Anachron - 08

7am - On the 14th floor of the IRS Building

The Anachron Team presented their findings from Wichita to Weiss, his assistant, and Davis.  The video evidence was irrefutable.  Weiss was pleased with their efforts even though they had broken protocol.  The suspension was lifted and Anachron Team was restored to the investigation, but this time they were going to take the lead.

Under the Team's orders, Davis was assigned to find Mitchell, the missing security guard from Wichita, dead or alive.  Weiss made one request before the Anachron Team investigated any further; he asked that they look into the deaths of his two  two Secret Service (SS) agents that were with the President when he died. Weiss released the bodies of the two SS agents who were with the President on the stage on the afternoon of the assassination.  The Team agreed and the meeting ajorned.

Anachron Field Log: Sequence 5

The President was just taking the podium in front of hundreds of spectators in Burnett Plaza.  The two SS stood a few paces back from the President.  Their radio earpieces were alive with chatter from the dozen or so SS and military guards scattered around the plaza grounds and rooftops.  As the President began speaking things quiet down and an all clear was given over radio.

A minute or so into the speech a sharp pop could be heard over the radio.  It was followed by three more pops.  For the next few seconds nothing intelligible could be made out over the radio.  People were screaming and running from Cane who had opened fire on the guards inside the Burnett lobby, but at the moment the SS and military couldn't make sense of the chaos being broadcast on the radio.  Finally someone shouted in a clear voice that there was a shooter in the lobby.

The two SS agents turned around to look at the lobby back through the glass of building behind them.  Cane was dashing from cover to cover and firing a handgun with deadly resolve.  He had a determined look in his eyes that told the SS agents that he didn't care if he died so long as he finished what he had started.  The question was, what had started?

It didn't take long for the SS to find out the answer to that question.  Cane made a final rush towards the glass.  His backpack was clearly visible and he was firing his gun at the remaining guards in the lobby in an attempt to get as close to the glass as possible without being fatally shot.  The SS realized Cane's sinister intentions to late.  Both SS dove to protect the President just as the bomb went off.  One agent was cut to ribbons in the blast and died almost instantly.  The other managed to shield the President and survived the blast.

In the sub-basement of the IRS Building

Lauren sat up on the table of the Anachron.  Jeremy was not at her side as he should have been. Silvia was sitting across the way operating for Alex who was still synced up to her SS agent riding out the aftermath of the explosion that had just ejected Lauren from the Anachron.  It only took a moment for Lauren to realize something wasn't right.  She looked around and immediately noticed Dr. Saren laying face down in a pool of blood at the base of the Anachron mainframe.

Before Lauren could ask what had happened a shot rang out somewhere off in the basement.  Silvia shrieked at the noise and called out, "Jeremy."  Lauren reached for her handgun but it was missing.  She looked to Silvia, and Silvia pleaded for her to help Jeremy.  Lauren took Alex's gun and looked out into the expansive basement. She saw row after row of archive files.  Occupancy sensors controlled the lights that illuminated the narrow rows of files.  Jeremy, and presumably whom ever shot Dr. Saren were somewhere out in the archives and the occupancy sensors left a trail for Lauren to follow.

Lauren slipped quietly into the files, following the trail of illuminated rows.  15 or so rows in she came to the end to the illuminated trail.  Who ever set off the sensors had stopped their escape just one row ahead of where she had stood.  Lauren could see a boot sticking out from a row at the end of the trail.  She tripped the sensor on the adjacent row to create a diversion and ran up the opposite side towards the boot.  When she rounded the corner with her gun drawn and ready to fire. At her feet she discovered Jeremy laying on the ground with a gaping whole in his forehead.  He had been shot from behind at close range.  It was his boot that Lauren had seen sticking out of the row.

Somebody moved nearby and set off another sensor.  Jeremy and Dr. Saren's murderer was still close by.  Lauren took off without a second thought to confront the murderer.  Lauren ran fast and made up the distance between her and the murderer within a few rows.  Lauren rounded the last corner and found herself looking down the row at a man sprinting for an exit door leading up and out of the basement.

The man was making to exit the door.  Lauren raised her gun.  As the door swung open a light cast upon the face of the murderer.  It was Chief Weiss.  Lauren fired her gun but missed her mark.  The door swung shut.  By the time Lauren made it to the door it was barred closed.  Lauren was alone in a remote corner of the sub-basement.  Weiss had shot and killed Jeremy and Dr. Saren, but why?

Back at the Anachron, Alex sat up on the table.  She was still shaken from her most recent brush with virtual death, this time being crushed by what remained of Burnett Tower as she hunted, via proxy, for the President in the rubble after the explosion.  Alex's last minute as the SS agent had been strange.  Time had shifted forwards and backwards and actual reality and virtual reality had started to blend.  She recalled a disconnected voice speaking as over the twisted events saying, "I'm shutting you down permanently," and asking "Is this the mainframe?"  However, the Anachron run was over now and presently she was sitting up in the sub-basement.

At first glance she noticed Jeremy and Lauren weren't at their station.  Next she saw Dr. Saren dead on the floor.  She whipped around to find Silvia vigilantly sitting at her station clutching her stomach.  She had been shot and the wound had blossomed to stain her whole lower torso.  Silvia was breathing in a soft wheeze.  Alex applied pressure to the wound and Silvia's wheezing eased for a moment.

Alex asked, "What happened?"

Silvia responded softly, "I could tell you, but it would be easier for me to show you," as she slumped over dead in Alex's arms.