Codename omega feat the.., p.12

Codename: Omega (feat. The Apiary Society), page 12

 

Codename: Omega (feat. The Apiary Society)
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  Price removed Regis’s gun and threw it across the room. He started to squeeze the Beretta’s trigger, ever so slightly, just enough to eliminate the slack. Soon, the hammer would drop and a .25 caliber bullet would spiral into the back of Regis’s skull. “Thinking about shooting me, Sean? You really gonna kill a Federal Agent of the United States of America? There won’t be a backwater mud hole on God’s Green Earth deep enough for you to hide in. Listen to me, pal. Let’s talk sense, okay?” Regis turned around with his hands raised, staring directly into the mouth of the Beretta’s barrel.

  “This isn’t even your problem, see. It’s a bunch of nobodies that don’t mean squat in the grand scheme of things. As far as I’m concerned, as far as the entire US government is concerned, you took out several members of the Giancana crime family who were threatening the life of Jonas Salk. That makes you a goddamn hero. We’ll get things straightened out with your boss, send you home with more medals than you can fit in one suitcase. Sounds good, right?” Regis said. Price didn’t move and didn’t lower the gun.

  “Look, forget the damn experiment. It’s off. Done. Okay? Dr. Salk can give those kids all the polio-juice he wants, and we’ll go test it on a few more inmates. Rapists and murders. How does that sound?”

  “Let him go, Mr. Price,” Dr. Salk said, stepping between the rack of lab coats that Price had thrown in front of the cubby hole. “He said he wouldn’t hurt the children.”

  Price glanced at Salk for just a split second to tell him to get back, but Regis moved quicker than he could pull the trigger. Regis sent a heavy fist against Price’s temple, splitting his eyebrow wide open. He yanked the Beretta out of Price’s hands and slammed him in the knee with a vicious, sweeping kick.

  Price crumpled to the ground and Regis lifted his foot high in the air over his head and stomped.

  ***

  Someone was speaking.

  Price’s eyes were crusted with dried blood and nearly glued shut. He forced them to open and instantly reeled back at the smiling face of Chuck Regis kneeling directly in front of him. His hands and feet were duct taped to a sturdy wooden chair. There was a piece of elastic tape stretched across his mouth. Price looked around and realized he was inside the laboratory’s warehouse, surrounded by shipping containers. There were a dozen agents in biohazard suits, carrying boxes that were marked Operation Paperclip.

  Regis snapped his fingers in front of Price’s face several times and said, “You back now? Good. I want to make sure you can appreciate what’s about to happen here. The historical nature of it all. You a fan of history, Sean?” An agent walked by carrying a box stamped biohazard. Regis waved to him in greeting. “Anybody who knows history knows that the people in power aren’t really the ones in power. They’re just the faces we put on the money. It’s the behind the scenes people who really make things happen. Take this outfit. The CIA is the organization, with bosses and budgets and buildings, but really, it’s nothing. In every agency, every government around the world, it’s like that. Even your Majesty’s little Secret Service. You’ve got the worker bees buzzing around running errands like you, and you’ve got the select few who are doing the real work like me. We’re the ones making the hard decisions. Doing what is necessary.”

  “See, we’re under attack over here,” Regis said. “The queers, the negros, the women’s libbers, the immigrants, the goombahs, the Commies, you name it. And that’s just from within. But it won’t just stay here, Sean. It will spread. Like a virus.”

  Price mumbled through the duct tape. Regis grabbed an end of the tape and ripped it off of Price’s lips. Price tasted blood instantly. “I said, where is Jonas?”

  “Right now he’s looking at photographs taken by some very special people. I’m hoping when he sees the looks on the faces of his closest loved ones he realizes it’s time to cooperate.”

  Price spit into Regis’s face.

  Regis slapped Price across the mouth, busting open his lower lip. Price sucked some of the blood into his mouth and spat that at Regis as well.

  Regis said as he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and mopped his face. “I tried talking sense to you, you dumb son of a bitch. You aren’t leaving me any other option.”

  He pulled a switchblade out of his pocket and flicked it open with the press of a button. He bent over and started to cut through the sleeve of Price’s shirt, then tore the fabric the rest of the way. He found a length of rubber tubing and tied it around Price’s bicep.

  “Since you want to be part of this thing so badly, I’m going to give you the honor of being the official first Polio Pioneer.” Regis tapped the inside of Price’s forearm until a thick blue vein rose, then he pulled a syringe filled with red cloudy fluid from his pocket and popped the cap off. Fluid dripped out of the needle’s tip and leaked down the length of its spine. “There’s enough LSD, mescaline, and scopolamine in this needle to scramble your eggs forever, you limey bastard.”

  Regis put the needle against the inside of Price’s forearm and slid it into one of his veins. He put his thumb against the butt end of the plunger and paused, looking up with a slight smile. “Don’t worry, Sean. I’ll come visit you in the hospital. I’ll tell them when your diaper is full, make sure they change your bib, all that. You know, that reminds me. I never did meet Jack Ivor. Just wanted to clear that up before I send you to never-never land. I did speak to him once. He called my office to tell us he was going to investigate that warehouse you two were working on. He said he’d key in within the hour if all went well.” Regis’ smile turned sinister, “How did you think those folks knew to get their shark ready?”

  Price thrashed against his bindings, trying to rip Regis’s throat out with his teeth. Regis laughed, trying to hold the needle straight. “Goodbye, Sean.”

  “Agent Regis!” a voice boomed from the warehouse door. Paul Grimley came storming through the door with a revolver aimed at both Regis and Price. A team of uniformed federal police filed into the room behind him.

  “Chief?” Regis said. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Victoria Regina,” Grimley said. He squeezed the trigger and Regis’ head snapped backwards, bursting apart like an overripe melon. The syringe, still full, dangled from Price’s skin.

  ***

  “Are you sure you want to go in there?” Emily said.

  Price looked into the hospital room but could only see the edge of the gurney. He took a deep breath and nodded.

  “He isn’t awake. He probably won’t even know you are there.”

  Price tapped her hand and said, “I’ll know.” He removed his hat and went into the room. Jack Ivor was wrapped head to toe in bandages. The still complete half of his face was left revealed, and his eyes were closed peacefully. “Hello, Jack,” Price said. He sat down on the visiting chair, twirling his hat in his hands. “I was in a tight spot not too long ago. What’s funny is that all I kept thinking was that the one thing I would regret was not chartering a boat for us to take fishing. To get drunk and forget about all this madness. Men like us aren’t suited for friends and family, Jack. It doesn’t fit well with the world we are forced to live in. But I saw myself trying to convince you that now you have a chance to put it all behind you. To find a good woman and raise hundreds of little happy Texans. That’s a good life, Jack, whether you’ve got two arms or just one. When you get better, I’ll tell you all about how your friend Paul Grimley called my boss and set him straight. He managed to save my job and even earn me a little time off.” Price stood up and put his hat on, “With pay.”

  ***

  Emily slid her hand through his as they drove and said, “So where are we going now?”

  Price held up a pair of first-class tickets to Santa Lucia. “Courtesy of the United States government. I knew Jonas was a beekeeper, but Grimley as well?”

  Emily rolled down the car window to let the wind play in her hair. “He was just waiting for the right chance to root out Regis. MKULTRA will continue, but they’ll have to play a little more carefully now. And two million children will receive the proper vaccine. That’s a good day’s work, I should say.” She looked down at the tickets and frowned at the names printed on them. “Mr. and Mrs. Morningwood?” she said. “What kind of name is that?”

  Price smiled as he drove and said, “You’ll find out soon enough, my dear. Soon enough.”

  About the Author

  As a teenager, Bernard Schaffer starred in Nickelodeon’s “Don’t Just Sit There,” musical productions, television commercials, and a skit on Saturday Night Live. He left acting to pursue a career in law enforcement. Since 2000, Schaffer has worked as a patrolman, detective, and narcotics officer in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

  In 2012, he released a series of books titled SUPERBIA about a dysfunctional police department. As a result, he was stripped of his detective rank.

  Schaffer is the founder of the Kindle All-Stars. The project’s first release was an anthology titled RESISTANCE FRONT that starred Harlan Ellison and Alan Dean Foster. All profits from that book are being donated to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

  Connect with Bernard Schaffer Online

  www.ApiarySociety.com

  www.BernardJSchaffer.blogspot.com

  Official YouTube Channel

  EMAIL

  ApiarySociety@gmail.com

  Twitter

  @ApiarySociety

  The following books are available from Bernard Schaffer via Amazon for your Kindle (paperback also where indicated) and free for members of Amazon Prime.

  SUPERBIA

  $2.99 Kindle, $9.99 paperback, Free on Amazon Prime

  (Also available in a Collected Edition featuring Book 1 and 2)

  "Ed McBain for the 21st Century." Matt Posner, author of School of the Ages

  "Schaffer is the very best independent author I have ever read...with Superbia, Schaffer has taken his game to an entirely new level." David Hulegaard, author of Noble

  “Step to the side, Joseph Wambaugh." 5-Star Customer Review

  "Schaffer's writing is top notch. He is funny, dark and tortured throughout. I was laughing at one page and then crying the next." The Book Nook Club

  A deadly shooting leaves police officer Frank O'Ryan with a shattered knee and a growing addiction to Percocet. Upon his return to duty, he is assigned to assist the most despised person in his police department, Detective Vic Ajax.

  Together, the two officers will encounter everything from drug stashes hidden inside dirty baby diapers to geriatric child molesters. They will journey into a world of madness, crushing isolation, and unsung heroism from which so few return.

  Superbia is the funniest, scariest, most brutal account of what police officers truly experience, written by the only author in the world who could take on such a task.

  Best-selling author Bernard Schaffer does more than write books. He is a real life police officer. This is the book that ends some careers and begins legendary new ones.

  Official Book Website with More Info, Links, etc

  SUPERBIA 2

  $2.99 Kindle, Free on Amazon Prime

  (Also available in a Collected Edition featuring Book 1 and 2)

  "Superbia 2 is the knockout punch from the new heavyweight champion of police procedurals. With this book, Schaffer cements his place among the all-time greats and silences anyone who ever tried to stop him. In the face of oppression, he came back swinging and this book stands defiant. It is a true testament to his love of the police profession, those who (really) do the job, his hatred of those who don't, and his blistering talent at telling a damn good story. Welcome back, champ." Cheryl G., reader review.

  "The Postmodern Hamlet," reader review Amazon.com

  "I did wonder if this book could equal the first one, Superbia. Well it did. It took me just 8 hours to read Bernard Schaffer's latest offering. I poured through it like a reader possessed," reader review, Amazon.com

  "Bernard Schaffer must be my favourite author at the moment," reader review Amazon.com

  "Just finished Superbia 2 and all I can say is 'WOW'. This storyline is getting better with each book," reader review Amazon.com.

  After the publication of the first Superbia, Schaffer faced incredible resistance from his "other" profession, and instead of backing away from writing about what he knows best, vowed to come back swinging harder than ever. Superbia 2 continues the story of the men and women of his infamous unnamed suburban police department.

  The end of the first book saw Detective Frank O'Ryan vowing to take revenge for his dead partner, Vic Ajax. Superbia 2 is a masterful journey into the heart and soul of one man, willing to do to whatever it takes to set things right...even if it means doing something terribly wrong.

  Official Book Website with More Info, Links, Videos, etc.

  GUNS OF SENECA 6

  $2.99 on Kindle, $9.99 in paperback, Free on Amazon Prime

  "Take Firefly, add a little steampunk, and throw in some classic Western mythology such as the story of Wyatt Earp and the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and you've got Seneca 6" FringeScientist.com

  "If you enjoyed Cowboys & Aliens, or Firefly you will most likely find this book to be right up your alley. It has been a long, long time since I have enjoyed a good Western read." Reader Review Amazon.com

  "In fact the story is full of little gems. They come as part of the Bernard Schaffer book package - he being a master of the `visual writing'. And in Jem Clayton, Marshal James McParlan and Doc Halladay you have three very engaging characters - the brilliant threesome. The defenders." Reader Review Amazon.UK

  "Outlaws, savages, aliens, and a town under martial law: This is not the Wild West as you know it, and author Bernard Schaffer wouldn't have it any other way...A cast of strong characters that are so distinguishable and well-crafted that you could almost label any of them as the "main" character." HulegaardBooks.com

  Guns of Seneca 6 is a trailblazing, gun-slinging, high-octane adventure of the Old West set on a distant planet in outer space. For years, the mining settlement of Seneca 6 was kept calm and peaceful by its steady-handed sheriff, Sam Clayton. That all ended on the day he was murdered in the wastelands, deep in the heart of Seneca’s native people, the Beothuk.

  Twenty years later, an intergalactic Marshal crash lands on Seneca transporting one of the galaxy’s most ruthless, despicable criminals. It is only a matter of time before his brother, Little Willy Harpe, arrives to murder the Marshal and kill everyone and everything he finds inside Seneca 6.

  Jem Clayton has turned into the infamous outlaw, “Gentleman Jim.” Upon his return to Seneca, he is joined by legendary scoundrel Doctor Royce Henry Halladay, and together, they make a stand against the Harpe Gang and a weapon they possess of unholy power.

  Fans of “Firefly,” “Tombstone,” and “Star Trek,” get your guns ready. These are the Guns of Seneca 6.

  Official Book Website with More Info, Links, etc

  WHITECHAPEL: THE FINAL STAND OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

  $4.99 on Kindle, $12.99 in paperback, Free on Amazon Prime

  "This duel between good and evil isn't about observational investigation skills but rather a story of redemption, heroes having to fight more than just a nocturnal psychopath, and a culture ill-equipped to deal with crime and its breeding grounds. Filled with surprising twists." BookPleasures.com

  "The writing is stupendous. Let me say that again, STUPENDOUS. Every character, from the most prominent to the lowest bit player, is deeper than an ocean. There are scenes in this book that I will never forget, including an ending that brought tears to my eyes." DavidHulegaard.com

  "Built on considerable historical research, a willingness to describe a hard world for what it was, and a good use of the original Sherlock Holmes canon to attract lovers of the Conan Doyle mythos. Disturbing, yes, but engaging as well." Bookpleasures

  "Mr. Schaffer's greatest feat with this book is in his extraordinary character development. Perhaps none more so than of notorious butcher, Jack the Ripper." DavidHulegaard.com

  "Author Bernard Schaffer hits it out of the park with a stylish, fictionalized story of the notorious killer Jack the Ripper with one of the ultimate investigators in fiction, Sherlock Holmes." C.C. Cole

  There have been many stories written about London's Great Detective and his pursuit of the world's first celebrated serial killer. All of them were lies.

  Whitechapel: The Final Stand of Sherlock Holmes has been called both a masterpiece and a shocking outrage in its realistic depiction of the Ripper crimes and the world in which Arthur Conan Doyle's beloved characters existed. Bernard Schaffer cuts through the simplistic devices that readers have grown used to Sherlock Holmes stories, and instead of regurgitating the same tired reworkings of the canon, he creates something new. Something fresh. Something that will leave readers stunned.

  Caution: Contains Graphic Content, including scenes of violence, sex, profanity, and realistic depictions of life in the East End where the Ripper killings actually occurred.

  Readers looking to enjoy an edited version of the story are invited to purchase WHITECHAPEL: THE FINAL STAND OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (GENTLEMEN'S EDITION), available now for Kindle and paperback.

 
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