GeofferyAshe
08-04-2014, 07:47 PM
The Heart of Osiris by Geoffery Teralend Ashe.
Matt Kaplan, a skilled Agent of procurement, he has spent the last few years of his life as a
professional thief, stealing from government agencies, insurgents and corrupt corporations.
But never had he thought he would become entangled in such a unbelievable circle of
deception.
He must now decide for himself what to believe.
Is his latest mission really contracted out by a secret society that is in the middle of a covert
war against aliens?
Or is he just a tool being used by two different groups of aliens trying to find buried secrets of humanities past?
The more he finds himself becoming more pivotal in their plot, the more he begins to wonder just how alien to earth these strange beings are.
I'll Be updating this story by chapter in serializations. Hopefully I will have an update every weekend.
I more than welcome constructive criticism in any way.
Chapter One
The van started off before I had the chance to get both feet in, I slammed the door shut behind me after I had and looked over at a familiar face sitting in the back of the meticulously clean van. I said his name as a greeting. "Panzer", the guy looked like a tank so it was a pretty fitting name. His large frame nearly dominated the bench as he slapped a magazine into a sleek small submachine gun. I recognized the gun as a MP5 and I watched the cool black metal of the gun glint in a street light as Panzer slowly took a drag from a hand-rolled cigarette that hung from his mouth. Looking up at me with a familiar grin, "Sup Jigsaw, glad you could make it, I was afraid I was going to have to work with a team of rookies after Straps dropped out."
I took a seat on the bench in the back of the van and replied "Yeah, I guess he is kinda messed up after your guy's last job."
Panzer laughed and killed his cigarette butt.
"Sure, it wasn't that bad though. Never liked Straps anyway, Dudes a Slack jawed punk."
"Ha, yeah he kind of is, so who else is with us?" I asked, watching him lock the action on his gun.
"Couple no names, never worked with them before. Seem decent enough. They're gonna meet us on scene at the club. You bring your own hardware?" Panzer asked, referring to a gun.
I grinned and in response to his question, I opened my black sports jacket letting him see the Uzi 9mm strapped to my side.
Wait, maybe I should rewind a bit before we get too far into this.
My names Matt Kaplan, at least it is now. My work colleagues know me as "Jigsaw Man". I'm a Scorpio, like long walks on the beach and I happen to be a professional thief. Not the fancy, showy thieves that you see on television. The longevity of my career relies on pulling the kind of jobs that don't draw attention.
The industry term is "Contract Procurement specialist."
My work is typically contracted out from government intelligence agencies and the sort of organizations that want complete deniability, so most my work tends not to make the headlines of fox or the front pages of any newspaper. I've been in this line of business for about seven years now, I cant really complain about it; I like to travel and I like the action, the pay isn't too bad either.
They say there isn't honor amongst thieves, its not altogether true. We're just like any other type of professional, except instead of using a pen to get the job done I use a gun. In most cases anyway, sometimes words or even a pen can be just as effective.
Now that we know each other, lets get back to the business at hand.
I checked the mag on my Uzi, peppered rubber bullets lined up the rail, less than lethal bullets. They don't kill but they hurt like Satan shot a hell powered spit ball at you. Perfect when working in public. No one likes innocent blood on their hands.
The pepper part coming from the fact that they have mace in the round so on top of the rubber bullet ruining some ones day, they also get a spray of mace.
Not the most pleasant experience, trust me on that. But I guess that is the point then isn't it?
So we were on our way to the job, I received a briefing earlier that day along with building blue prints.
This was our mission details.
Contract employer: unknown.
Target: Advanced Technological Supplies.
Target Location:Night club owned and owned by a suspected member of Russian organized crime.
Background: The nightclub is being used as a cover by the Russians for a holding place for next generation high tech equipment. The Russians "Obtained" (Read stole) the equipment from a science lab in Denver.
The merchandise is to be used in a sale with the Chinese Intelligence.
Objective:Our contract employer is most interested in the intended use of the equipment.
Our mission is to place a G.P.S on the products or destroy the cache of goods so our employer (Who remains unnamed) can make the sale instead.
If our presence is discovered then we are to destroy the equipment.
Mission parameters: Lose of life and/or any connection to employer and contract intermediary will result in immediate reprisal against agents.
The employer name isn't really required, its a typical CIA contract. But without including names both parties tend to be safer than with names, as there is less fear of either party trying to double cross the other, especially if one is caught. All of our contracts are handled through an intermediary contract handler. A well trusted organization that connects the two parties.
So there was the basis of our next pay-check. A rather simple and straight forward job, so we thought anyway.
Plans simple, go in, scout out their hired muscle, see if we cant place the bug stealthy like and if not, bust out an E.M.P bomb to kill all electronics, like cell phones, security cameras and panic alarms. The two guys already there will do crowd control while I and Panzer wipe the video footage and fry the targeted merchandise. Which from the building schematics it would logically be in the basement. Easy.
The van stopped in back of the club, after giving our gear a last once-over, I checked my black suit and made sure my tie was straight. "You ready for this Panzer?" I asked, slipping my black leather gloves on.
"Oh yeah, this job should be a walk in the park, especially after Mexico."
I laughed at his reference to our last job together. "Yeah, turns out Cartels don't like it when you steal from them."
Panzer laughed harder and put his cigarette out. "Or when you sleep with the bosses daughter."
"Hey, it got us into his country house." I replied, stepping out of the van.
"Well, try not to sleep with anyone here." Panzer joked as he followed me around the side of the building.
"No promises." I shot back at him while we walked under a flashing green neon sign for the club.
The music started as a distant rhythmic thumping but the closer we got to the front door the louder the music got.
Eying the Doorman for the club I turned to Panzer. "What do you think? A hundred?"
"Sure, should work. He doesn't look too bright anyway."
We made our way towards him while cutting through a line of hipsters standing outside the club waiting to get in.
"Hey buddy." I said to the Doorman as he looked down at me.
"We're on the list." I said, nonchalantly handing him a hundred dollar bill.
The hulking Doorman gave me a big grin that lended his face an almost baby like quality.
Still smirking he said "Sure are, go ahead." Nodding to the door.
Once through the door, my senses were smacked by the smell of sweat, beer and perfume.
My chest pounding with the beat of the D.J's music. I made my way through a crowd of party goers that shouted over the music to each other, Panzer following a distance behind me as his voice came on over a microphone in my ear.
"Not too bad of a club, you think any of these dumb asses even realize that this place is mob run?"
Another voice came on from one of our colleagues already there. "Who would care bro? The honeys are smoking hot in here. Oh yeah names Jango, welcome to the party Jigsaw."
"Alright, we all know what to do, yeah?" I asked. "I don't want any mess ups and not one civilian casualty."
"Yeah we read." came the answer that I wanted.
"Alright, I'm going to move in and see if I cant do this the easy way, if things get messy blow the EMP."
Panzer and I walked up to the bar, acting casual as can be. "Damn son. They have some good prices on their drinks, I might have to come back when I'm not working." Panzer joked as I spotted a side hall leading to the bathrooms, at the end of the same hall was a door marked "Employees Only".
The bartender walked up to us dressed in a typical monkey suit and sporting a horrendous comb over. He leaned against the bar and asked "Hey, what can I get for you?"
"I got to hit the john first." I said, nodding to the hall.
"Yeah, same here."
We went down the hall like we were on the way to the restroom, then looking for anyone watching us, we walked right through the Employees door. Unfortunately, we didn't realize that there were two Russian thugs on the other side of the door. As soon as we had stepped through they had spotted us and were walking right for us.
"Hey, party is out there guys." The bigger of the two said in an angry Russian accent.
"Don't this suck..." I could here Panzer mutter.
If we were going to close the distance between us and the Russians I knew I had to draw them closer, I threw on by best drunk party boy voice "Aye, where's the bathrooms at comrade?"
I asked in an inebriated voice.
"Back out the door, to your right." The smaller of the two said, but both came closer, trying to act intimidating.
"There ain't no bathroom that way fella." I retorted.
"poshel na khui" The smaller one said, stepping in closer to me, as he did I grabbed his wrist and leaned in with my fist, hard.
As I did I could see Panzer move towards the other. Perfect Timing.
My fist hooked the Ruskie in the temple, out like a light he went, his body fell limply against the concrete floor. I looked over and Panzer already had his guy in a choke hold, the Russian passed out in his arms like a sleeping baby. "Now that teamwork Jigsaw."
"Yeah buddy, now from the buildings blue prints, that door there should be the basement." I said while nodding towards a big steel door, a key card swipe mounted beside it.
I started going through the smaller of the two's pockets. "I could hack the key pad, that will take time, time we don't have." Panzer reached his hand into the other Russians' inside suit pocket "You mean this key card?" He asked proudly, pulling the card out.
"That's why you're the best." I told him, taking the card. "Okay, ditch these guys before they're spotted, Ill take out the cache. The stealth route isn't going to work, as soon as these goon's wake up they'll check the goods for any bugs."
I slid the card into the reader and the door clicked open, revealing metal stairs leading down into the basement. I began to make my way down the stairs, trying to be as silent as I could, but the stairs didn't give much room for stealth. The metallic echoing from the stairs must of alerted someone to my presence.
"Hey Hans, you bringing me a drink?" came a deep voice from down stairs in Russian. Luckily I had the opportunity to learn the language, while operating in Moscow a few years back. I met a Russian model, its a long story.
He must of heard me and thought I was his cohort, Hans. So I slipped my gun from its holster and kept going down the steps. "Yeah Comrade." I replied as I stepped off the stairs onto concrete basement floor. I could hear him around a corner shuffling cards so I raised up the Uzi and quickly turned the corner to face him. He was sitting at a card table, crates laying behind him. The goon's eyes went wide when he saw me, he made a move for his shotgun on the table, Too late.
I squeezed the trigger and a rubber bullet fired out of the barrel, flying on my mark right between his eyes. The bullet bounced off from his head while he flung back and fell from his chair. I looked down at him on the ground, The Goon was out like a light.
The crates that were behind him had shipping labels on them, the addresses matched the science lab that had been robbed, this was definitely our target.
I found a crowbar laying near-by and I used it to crack open a crate, looking inside it was very apparent that all of it was here, so I dropped the crowbar and reached into my jacket.
I pulled out a few tin foil packets from within. I tore them open, revealing the white play dough like material inside and the I started to plant it on the crates.
As I was Panzer had finished his job and came down the stairs.
"Semtex man?"
"Yeah man, we don't want to blow the whole building down, we just want to light the equipment up."
After I had finished placing the last peace I said "Perfect man, lets get out of here." But unfortunately that was when we heard the worst noise possible, the hammer of a pistol being cocked behind us.
"Turn around, real slow Yankee." Came a feminine voice, buttered in a slight Russian accent. We obeyed, as is wise when confronted with someone with a gun on your back. Both of us turned slowly to be greeted by a old-school 1911 pistol pointing at us.
As interested as I was in the barrel of the gun, I was equally interested in the person holding it, a smooth Russian woman, could of been a model easily. I would of thought she was had she not been holding a gun in my face.
"You two really have no idea what you just did, do you?"
"Look, whatever your boss is paying you, we can pay a whole lot more." Panzer said, staring up the sights of her gun.
"You think I'm working for these people?" she spit the word "People" out with great disgust.
"If you don't work for them, then what are you doing here?" Panzer asked.
A cold look passed over her face as she backed towards the stairs. "Trying to end this, I was about too until you two showed up." She said, gun still lowered on us.
"Okay." I said, "Maybe we can help you?"
"It's too late now, I have failed." She answered, still facing us as she backed her way to the stairs and then she bolted up them before we could stop her.
"Crazy Russians." Panzer said after she disappeared.
Our job done, we headed up the stairs after her and hurried back through the Employees Only door and back out the hall to the bar.
Over the microphone I told our support guys "Okay we're set here, We're going to head out. When we do, hit the E.M.P to wipe the cameras."
"Will do." They both echoed back in response as we came out through the front doors of the club, the windy city street meeting us there, refreshing after the club. We passing the giant bouncer, now busy arguing with a wannabe-be gangster.
Panzer pulled out a cigarette as I took out the detonator. "Here goes nothing." I said, pulling the switch.
The music of the club still beating in my chest cavity, completely covered the explosion up so that no-one, not even in the club could hear it.
"Now." I commanded over the microphone.
Panzer flicked his lighter to light his smoke, and then came silence.
Like a light switch the music in the club cut off. The E.M.P killed everything electronic inside the building, computers, cell phones, security cameras and receivers, everything.
No trace we were ever there.
Mission accomplished.
Right?
Matt Kaplan, a skilled Agent of procurement, he has spent the last few years of his life as a
professional thief, stealing from government agencies, insurgents and corrupt corporations.
But never had he thought he would become entangled in such a unbelievable circle of
deception.
He must now decide for himself what to believe.
Is his latest mission really contracted out by a secret society that is in the middle of a covert
war against aliens?
Or is he just a tool being used by two different groups of aliens trying to find buried secrets of humanities past?
The more he finds himself becoming more pivotal in their plot, the more he begins to wonder just how alien to earth these strange beings are.
I'll Be updating this story by chapter in serializations. Hopefully I will have an update every weekend.
I more than welcome constructive criticism in any way.
Chapter One
The van started off before I had the chance to get both feet in, I slammed the door shut behind me after I had and looked over at a familiar face sitting in the back of the meticulously clean van. I said his name as a greeting. "Panzer", the guy looked like a tank so it was a pretty fitting name. His large frame nearly dominated the bench as he slapped a magazine into a sleek small submachine gun. I recognized the gun as a MP5 and I watched the cool black metal of the gun glint in a street light as Panzer slowly took a drag from a hand-rolled cigarette that hung from his mouth. Looking up at me with a familiar grin, "Sup Jigsaw, glad you could make it, I was afraid I was going to have to work with a team of rookies after Straps dropped out."
I took a seat on the bench in the back of the van and replied "Yeah, I guess he is kinda messed up after your guy's last job."
Panzer laughed and killed his cigarette butt.
"Sure, it wasn't that bad though. Never liked Straps anyway, Dudes a Slack jawed punk."
"Ha, yeah he kind of is, so who else is with us?" I asked, watching him lock the action on his gun.
"Couple no names, never worked with them before. Seem decent enough. They're gonna meet us on scene at the club. You bring your own hardware?" Panzer asked, referring to a gun.
I grinned and in response to his question, I opened my black sports jacket letting him see the Uzi 9mm strapped to my side.
Wait, maybe I should rewind a bit before we get too far into this.
My names Matt Kaplan, at least it is now. My work colleagues know me as "Jigsaw Man". I'm a Scorpio, like long walks on the beach and I happen to be a professional thief. Not the fancy, showy thieves that you see on television. The longevity of my career relies on pulling the kind of jobs that don't draw attention.
The industry term is "Contract Procurement specialist."
My work is typically contracted out from government intelligence agencies and the sort of organizations that want complete deniability, so most my work tends not to make the headlines of fox or the front pages of any newspaper. I've been in this line of business for about seven years now, I cant really complain about it; I like to travel and I like the action, the pay isn't too bad either.
They say there isn't honor amongst thieves, its not altogether true. We're just like any other type of professional, except instead of using a pen to get the job done I use a gun. In most cases anyway, sometimes words or even a pen can be just as effective.
Now that we know each other, lets get back to the business at hand.
I checked the mag on my Uzi, peppered rubber bullets lined up the rail, less than lethal bullets. They don't kill but they hurt like Satan shot a hell powered spit ball at you. Perfect when working in public. No one likes innocent blood on their hands.
The pepper part coming from the fact that they have mace in the round so on top of the rubber bullet ruining some ones day, they also get a spray of mace.
Not the most pleasant experience, trust me on that. But I guess that is the point then isn't it?
So we were on our way to the job, I received a briefing earlier that day along with building blue prints.
This was our mission details.
Contract employer: unknown.
Target: Advanced Technological Supplies.
Target Location:Night club owned and owned by a suspected member of Russian organized crime.
Background: The nightclub is being used as a cover by the Russians for a holding place for next generation high tech equipment. The Russians "Obtained" (Read stole) the equipment from a science lab in Denver.
The merchandise is to be used in a sale with the Chinese Intelligence.
Objective:Our contract employer is most interested in the intended use of the equipment.
Our mission is to place a G.P.S on the products or destroy the cache of goods so our employer (Who remains unnamed) can make the sale instead.
If our presence is discovered then we are to destroy the equipment.
Mission parameters: Lose of life and/or any connection to employer and contract intermediary will result in immediate reprisal against agents.
The employer name isn't really required, its a typical CIA contract. But without including names both parties tend to be safer than with names, as there is less fear of either party trying to double cross the other, especially if one is caught. All of our contracts are handled through an intermediary contract handler. A well trusted organization that connects the two parties.
So there was the basis of our next pay-check. A rather simple and straight forward job, so we thought anyway.
Plans simple, go in, scout out their hired muscle, see if we cant place the bug stealthy like and if not, bust out an E.M.P bomb to kill all electronics, like cell phones, security cameras and panic alarms. The two guys already there will do crowd control while I and Panzer wipe the video footage and fry the targeted merchandise. Which from the building schematics it would logically be in the basement. Easy.
The van stopped in back of the club, after giving our gear a last once-over, I checked my black suit and made sure my tie was straight. "You ready for this Panzer?" I asked, slipping my black leather gloves on.
"Oh yeah, this job should be a walk in the park, especially after Mexico."
I laughed at his reference to our last job together. "Yeah, turns out Cartels don't like it when you steal from them."
Panzer laughed harder and put his cigarette out. "Or when you sleep with the bosses daughter."
"Hey, it got us into his country house." I replied, stepping out of the van.
"Well, try not to sleep with anyone here." Panzer joked as he followed me around the side of the building.
"No promises." I shot back at him while we walked under a flashing green neon sign for the club.
The music started as a distant rhythmic thumping but the closer we got to the front door the louder the music got.
Eying the Doorman for the club I turned to Panzer. "What do you think? A hundred?"
"Sure, should work. He doesn't look too bright anyway."
We made our way towards him while cutting through a line of hipsters standing outside the club waiting to get in.
"Hey buddy." I said to the Doorman as he looked down at me.
"We're on the list." I said, nonchalantly handing him a hundred dollar bill.
The hulking Doorman gave me a big grin that lended his face an almost baby like quality.
Still smirking he said "Sure are, go ahead." Nodding to the door.
Once through the door, my senses were smacked by the smell of sweat, beer and perfume.
My chest pounding with the beat of the D.J's music. I made my way through a crowd of party goers that shouted over the music to each other, Panzer following a distance behind me as his voice came on over a microphone in my ear.
"Not too bad of a club, you think any of these dumb asses even realize that this place is mob run?"
Another voice came on from one of our colleagues already there. "Who would care bro? The honeys are smoking hot in here. Oh yeah names Jango, welcome to the party Jigsaw."
"Alright, we all know what to do, yeah?" I asked. "I don't want any mess ups and not one civilian casualty."
"Yeah we read." came the answer that I wanted.
"Alright, I'm going to move in and see if I cant do this the easy way, if things get messy blow the EMP."
Panzer and I walked up to the bar, acting casual as can be. "Damn son. They have some good prices on their drinks, I might have to come back when I'm not working." Panzer joked as I spotted a side hall leading to the bathrooms, at the end of the same hall was a door marked "Employees Only".
The bartender walked up to us dressed in a typical monkey suit and sporting a horrendous comb over. He leaned against the bar and asked "Hey, what can I get for you?"
"I got to hit the john first." I said, nodding to the hall.
"Yeah, same here."
We went down the hall like we were on the way to the restroom, then looking for anyone watching us, we walked right through the Employees door. Unfortunately, we didn't realize that there were two Russian thugs on the other side of the door. As soon as we had stepped through they had spotted us and were walking right for us.
"Hey, party is out there guys." The bigger of the two said in an angry Russian accent.
"Don't this suck..." I could here Panzer mutter.
If we were going to close the distance between us and the Russians I knew I had to draw them closer, I threw on by best drunk party boy voice "Aye, where's the bathrooms at comrade?"
I asked in an inebriated voice.
"Back out the door, to your right." The smaller of the two said, but both came closer, trying to act intimidating.
"There ain't no bathroom that way fella." I retorted.
"poshel na khui" The smaller one said, stepping in closer to me, as he did I grabbed his wrist and leaned in with my fist, hard.
As I did I could see Panzer move towards the other. Perfect Timing.
My fist hooked the Ruskie in the temple, out like a light he went, his body fell limply against the concrete floor. I looked over and Panzer already had his guy in a choke hold, the Russian passed out in his arms like a sleeping baby. "Now that teamwork Jigsaw."
"Yeah buddy, now from the buildings blue prints, that door there should be the basement." I said while nodding towards a big steel door, a key card swipe mounted beside it.
I started going through the smaller of the two's pockets. "I could hack the key pad, that will take time, time we don't have." Panzer reached his hand into the other Russians' inside suit pocket "You mean this key card?" He asked proudly, pulling the card out.
"That's why you're the best." I told him, taking the card. "Okay, ditch these guys before they're spotted, Ill take out the cache. The stealth route isn't going to work, as soon as these goon's wake up they'll check the goods for any bugs."
I slid the card into the reader and the door clicked open, revealing metal stairs leading down into the basement. I began to make my way down the stairs, trying to be as silent as I could, but the stairs didn't give much room for stealth. The metallic echoing from the stairs must of alerted someone to my presence.
"Hey Hans, you bringing me a drink?" came a deep voice from down stairs in Russian. Luckily I had the opportunity to learn the language, while operating in Moscow a few years back. I met a Russian model, its a long story.
He must of heard me and thought I was his cohort, Hans. So I slipped my gun from its holster and kept going down the steps. "Yeah Comrade." I replied as I stepped off the stairs onto concrete basement floor. I could hear him around a corner shuffling cards so I raised up the Uzi and quickly turned the corner to face him. He was sitting at a card table, crates laying behind him. The goon's eyes went wide when he saw me, he made a move for his shotgun on the table, Too late.
I squeezed the trigger and a rubber bullet fired out of the barrel, flying on my mark right between his eyes. The bullet bounced off from his head while he flung back and fell from his chair. I looked down at him on the ground, The Goon was out like a light.
The crates that were behind him had shipping labels on them, the addresses matched the science lab that had been robbed, this was definitely our target.
I found a crowbar laying near-by and I used it to crack open a crate, looking inside it was very apparent that all of it was here, so I dropped the crowbar and reached into my jacket.
I pulled out a few tin foil packets from within. I tore them open, revealing the white play dough like material inside and the I started to plant it on the crates.
As I was Panzer had finished his job and came down the stairs.
"Semtex man?"
"Yeah man, we don't want to blow the whole building down, we just want to light the equipment up."
After I had finished placing the last peace I said "Perfect man, lets get out of here." But unfortunately that was when we heard the worst noise possible, the hammer of a pistol being cocked behind us.
"Turn around, real slow Yankee." Came a feminine voice, buttered in a slight Russian accent. We obeyed, as is wise when confronted with someone with a gun on your back. Both of us turned slowly to be greeted by a old-school 1911 pistol pointing at us.
As interested as I was in the barrel of the gun, I was equally interested in the person holding it, a smooth Russian woman, could of been a model easily. I would of thought she was had she not been holding a gun in my face.
"You two really have no idea what you just did, do you?"
"Look, whatever your boss is paying you, we can pay a whole lot more." Panzer said, staring up the sights of her gun.
"You think I'm working for these people?" she spit the word "People" out with great disgust.
"If you don't work for them, then what are you doing here?" Panzer asked.
A cold look passed over her face as she backed towards the stairs. "Trying to end this, I was about too until you two showed up." She said, gun still lowered on us.
"Okay." I said, "Maybe we can help you?"
"It's too late now, I have failed." She answered, still facing us as she backed her way to the stairs and then she bolted up them before we could stop her.
"Crazy Russians." Panzer said after she disappeared.
Our job done, we headed up the stairs after her and hurried back through the Employees Only door and back out the hall to the bar.
Over the microphone I told our support guys "Okay we're set here, We're going to head out. When we do, hit the E.M.P to wipe the cameras."
"Will do." They both echoed back in response as we came out through the front doors of the club, the windy city street meeting us there, refreshing after the club. We passing the giant bouncer, now busy arguing with a wannabe-be gangster.
Panzer pulled out a cigarette as I took out the detonator. "Here goes nothing." I said, pulling the switch.
The music of the club still beating in my chest cavity, completely covered the explosion up so that no-one, not even in the club could hear it.
"Now." I commanded over the microphone.
Panzer flicked his lighter to light his smoke, and then came silence.
Like a light switch the music in the club cut off. The E.M.P killed everything electronic inside the building, computers, cell phones, security cameras and receivers, everything.
No trace we were ever there.
Mission accomplished.
Right?