He looked up from his book to see the weird looking little bug vanish within
the folds of his shirt. Marty tried to brush it off, but the bug crawled under
the shirt out of harm's way. Suddenly Marty felt a sharp prick. Did the bug bite
him? Maybe so, because Marty began to itch in the same spot where the bug
crawled. Shrugging, Marty reminded himself to stop at the drugstore before
heading back to the office. He had to get some anti-itch cream or else he'd be
scratching all day. Continuing to read, and polishing off the remaining chips
and sandwich, Marty felt a twinge deep within his chest. Did the bug bite cause
anything else other than a little rash and itchiness? Marty suspected that much,
but the more he tried to ride out the pain, the worst it got. Within minutes,
Marty was on the ground, clutching his chest and fighting for breath. In his
mind he knew what was happening – heart attack...
°°°°°°
The news bulletin blared over the airwaves...
"This is Kelly Kimbrough, WRCR-TV4 News...We have just received word that
Martin McCormack, candidate for District 6 state senator, has died, apparently
from a severe heart attack. McCormack was found, unconscious, by passersby in
University Park this afternoon. Paramedics were called to the scene, but they
could not revive McCormack. He died en route to Community Hospital..."
Now with McCormack dead, who will take his place in the election? Good
question. Over the next several days following McCormack's sudden death, party
official wracked their brains trying to find someone, anyone, who could at last
unseat the extremely popular incumbent. They found their man in one Ray
Marsh.
So who is Ray Marsh? He was a virtual unknown, a businessman by trade who
dabbled in this and that venture. Currently, he owns a chain of dry cleaners, a
nightclub, and, at last count, ten online stores. At first the party really
didn't endorse Marsh officially because of his partnership in the nightclub,
Cosmic Chaos, a wildly popular spot with young adults. Come on, party officials
reasoned, who would vote for a guy who owned and operated a night spot that
featured scantily clad waitresses and raucous rock-n-roll bands. What's more,
Marsh's business partner at C.C., Audra Byers, was well known among the city's
gay and lesbian community. Now how would voters respond to that? Nevertheless,
it was agreed that Marsh would take Marty's place on the ballot. Besides, it was
late, and trying to find a likely replacement at the last minute was daunting
enough. The party leaders decided it was Marsh or none – The election was
cut-and-dried anyway, with Jim Jacobs the hands-on favorite. So let Ray Marsh
campaign his heart out. It will be all for naught come November.
But something even stranger happened within those few fleeting months between
June and November. By August, Marsh's approval numbers in the polls jumped a
whopping 300%! The incumbent, Jacobs, fearing that his easy re-election was no
longer airtight, wondered why an unknown, non-descript guy like Ray Marsh
could so suddenly become the voters' darling overnight. Such things never
happen, at least not like this. But the numbers said it all: Ray Marsh
positively appealed to younger voters, especially those who frequented Cosmic
Chaos. The word spread from the club to the streets. In a matter of weeks of his
formal acceptance of the party's nomination, Marsh virtually had the election in
the bag. There was something weird going on, and at this moment, with the
election only weeks away, someone else partially uncovered the mystery.
°°°°°°
Reyna Paul, Metacorps' president and CEO, sifted through stacks of classified information. She was a striking woman, glamorous in a supermodel way. In fact, she was once a top runway model, but as she grew older the jobs simply stopped coming. So she started a new business, something she was truly trained to do. Reyna was shy of 5'10", slim, and had a deep espresso complexion so smooth and flawless one could not tell that she was in her middle 50's. Even in her presently serious mood, her large brown eyes registered warmth. But today, she was deep into her firm's latest case. So, an allegedly fixed election, eh? There is something going on, and it's not just dumb luck on Ray Marsh's part. In fact, ever since Marty McCormack's death, Reyna's people pointed to Marsh's club, Cosmic Chaos, as the source of Marsh's sudden rise in popularity. This was NO fluke; it was deliberately planned.
"And they did it with Mary Starr's device, but used it in reverse," muttered Reyna to herself. This she couldn't believe! How long has Mary been dead? Nearly thirty years since this past spring. For this case, Reyna didn't want to use Metacorps' top agent, Melody Starr, as what was partially uncovered hit too close to home. Mary was Melody's mother, and it concerned Reyna that Melody may refuse this assignment, but then again... So she sent another agent, Taylor Wyles, to initially investigate. With the election less than three weeks away, something had to be done. Jim Jacob's law partner had approached Reyna back in July, worrying about how Ray Marsh could so suddenly gain popularity when it was clear that the present senator's district is so overwhelmingly 'one party'.
"It's not like folks to change their views overnight," he said to Reyna, "but
I really think there is something screwy with the political TV and radio ads."
"But," Reyna reasoned, "Marsh's poll numbers jumped well before his ads hit the
airwaves. My agent believes that since those initial respondents were
overwhelmingly patrons of Marsh's club..."
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking? That...er...'Dark Horse' was used?"
"My guess is just that."
°°°°°°
So what was 'Dark Horse'? It was the brainchild of Mary Starr, a brilliant scientist who worked on top secret projects for the government. However, once Mary made her breakthrough with 'Dark Horse', she decided this project was too sensitive to leave in the hands of government or corporate officials. It was that revolutionary. 'Dark Horse' was a subliminal decoder, that is it could detect and decode subliminal messages in broadcast advertisements, supermarket and elevator music, etc. It would, as Mary reasoned, revolutionize the advertising/propaganda machine. People would be able to tell if they're being manipulated for commercial or political purposes. Of course, Mary Starr wanted to make sure the project never fall into the wrong hands. So she simply hid Dark Horse away, storing it where no one could ever find it. But it was not to be. Enter Frank Maxwell, once William Starr's business associate.
William was Mary's husband, an independent contractor who microfilmed documents for the government. Frank was a cagey sort who dabbled in counterespionage, but he was not very good at it. Once Will found out Frank was double-crossing him (Frank attempted to make copies of sensitive files Will had just filmed and sell them to extremist groups), he immediately ended the partnership. Will even threatened to report Frank to government officials, but he didn't because deep down Will believed in giving people a second chance. Big mistake. Not long after that incident, Frank Maxwell died, gunned down by, as it was reported, a hit man hired by Frank's many underworld connections.
So, Will and Mary Starr could breath easy now that Dark Horse was completely safe. Mary feared that if Frank had the audacity to copy some of William's work, then what would stop him from finding out about her project? For a time, it seemed all was in the clear, but the tide turned, and violently.
It was a Thursday morning, and the Starrs had just dropped off their only child, Melody, at school. It was a routine day: drop off Melody, pick up dry-cleaning, stop at bank and grocery, then back home to finish outstanding projects. When the Starrs returned home, they walked in on a trap. They found their home ransacked, the furniture upturned and ripped, Mary's collection of expensive porcelain vases shattered. Frantically, Mary went downstairs to the family room, to the concealed safe behind the bar. It had been opened; its precious contents gone! Suddenly she heard gunfire coming from upstairs. Fearing that the intruders were still in the house, and for her husband's safety, Mary dashed upstairs to the living room, only to find Will's lifeless body sprawled on the floor. She didn't have time to cry or lament her husband's death; she immediately ran out of the house in hopes of flagging down a neighbor for help. But she was too late. The moment Mary stepped outside, she was met with a hail of bullets. She died instantly, never knowing that the project she so desperately tried to protect would, some day, be used in just the fashion she hated.
°°°°°°
Reyna Paul poured over Taylor's last report, wondering if indeed Melody
should be called in for this assignment. She took a break and poured for herself
a strong cup of coffee. So many thoughts ran through her mind. Firstly, there
was a bittersweet memory of Melody's parents' deaths. So sad to lose her folks
like that. Melody was barely six when that happened. God, and to think she's
never found out the truth behind her folks' murder. Well, it was murder, and I
bet good money it had to be Frank Maxwell's wife, Olivia, who ordered the hit,
but it was never proven. And Olivia herself died years ago, poisoned by a
renegade scientist who was rumored to be the woman's lover.
Secondly, Reyna
thought about something else, and that was what she read in Taylor's initial
reports. It all matched up with what Jacobs' law partner alleged: that Dark
Horse was indeed used to influence voter opinion. Using a mock up of Dark Horse,
Taylor partially uncovered the mystery. Marsh's club, Cosmic Chaos, was
the center of the man's sudden rise in the opinion polls. Taylor, using the
device as directed, discovered that the music videos and songs broadcast over
the club's big-screen TV's were LOADED with subliminal messages so potent that
it was impossible not to ignore.
"Apparently," reported Taylor, "the club's regular patrons were the very people in those initial survey samplings. All they had to do was to spread the word about, 'Our man Ray'." Subliminal messages hidden within music videos, a man who had no political experience suddenly becomes wildly popular among voters, and Dark Horse, Mary Starr's breakthrough project was, in part, used...
This was not good, thought Reyna, who fought the urge to call Melody. No, I can't do that to her...Can't dredge up bad memories...And it can be dangerous...
The phone went off in Reyna's ear, jarring her to reality. She answered, and what she heard on the other end was not pleasant. That voice sounded awfully familiar to Reyna, and that voice taunted her with threats if Metacorps thinks of bringing down the perfect political coup of the year...
Oh no...Taylor...captured...killed...I have no choice but to call Melody. I hope she understands...But will Melody be able to handle...and now I know for a fact the woman – who calls herself Charmaine – is behind this, but why?
°°°°°°
In a hidden room beneath the Cosmic Chaos, a drop-dead gorgeous young blonde entered. Her name was Nydessa, and she was Charmaine's latest new 'talent'. She never questioned her mistress' methods of dealing with intruders, so the latest news of a Metacorps agent's death was no surprise. "You wanted to see me, Charmaine?," she asked.
Charmaine, a tall thirty-something woman of incredible blonde
good looks, merely replied, "Ah, Nydessa. I take it you instructed Jake to
dispose of the body."
"Yes, ma'am," came the immediate reply. What a good girl,
thought Charmaine. She is by far my best 'pet', so unlike that Audra, but I
think I can at least win her over...
She snapped herself back to reality, then gave Nydessa these orders: "I have a feeling Reyna Paul will send another agent. I'm not sure which one, as she has just lost her best. Poor Taylor. The girl should've been more careful snooping about so. Curiosity certainly killed this cat."
Nydessa stood there, her curvaceous body shifting uncomfortably in the skintight PVC dress Charmaine made her wear. She didn't complain as her mistress had been so kind to her these past months. For Charmaine, Nydessa would do anything, such as rat on whoever dared to intrude on Charmaine's latest scheme.
Her mistress, momentarily lost in a painful memory, finished by saying,
"Nydessa, as I said, Metacorps will send out another agent. I want you to keep
your eyes and ears open to whoever comes through those club doors. If they look
the bit suspicious, report them to me. I will take care of them, just as I took
care of Ms. Wyles."
TO BE CONTINUED...Go to chapter 2
Copyright©2004 by PRP. All Rights Reserved.
*My thanks to Seventh Sanctum for their name and character generators. When I needed a name for Melody's spy firm, I went to S.S. and got "Metacorps". Works for me! LOL!