Chapter 7

Just one more week, and all those dirty, sexist politicians are going down.

Antone walked down the crowded New Philadelphia street, head tilted down, avoiding eye contact. Not only did he avoid social interactions, but he needed to reach his destination on time.

Seeing a blonde strutting her hot self down the street, Antone quickly averted his gaze, and stepped off to the side.

Not even a sideways glance. Heh, they won’t see me coming.

Antone could’ve taken one of the unmanned taxi’s to reach his destination faster, but that would mean paying with his ID card, and he didn’t like leaving an electronic breadcrumb trail. The government could easily track your movements that way, and if they needed to look at you further, could find your associates easily.

They’re always listening. Always. If people knew the things that Antone knew, there would’ve been an uprising years ago.

But people are sheep- too stupid to know what’s going on.

That’s why the Brotherhood had to act now, before the government’s plan to literally brainwash every child in America came to fruition.

Antone had gathered quite a trove of information from his team of hackers, so he knew well the expansion plans for Feminist Party-run schools. Their influence was still limited to certain cities in the United States, but they were making progress toward complete control every year.

Perhaps if the government had removed their secret Net filters, the truth could get out to the public, and they could make their own decisions. But people didn’t care, or didn’t want to listen, preferring instead to go along with this so-called “perfect” society.

Well it ain’t perfect for us. Again, propaganda had turned the female-dominated population to support the government’s social programs, no matter how it hurt the male minority.

Oh, how the mighty had fallen, Antone smirked. Of course he had read about the male-dominated societies in the past, and how many millennia it took before women could even vote. Perhaps this was payback for all the unrightly-denied privileges women fought so hard for.

But it didn’t make it fair. And now the Brotherhood was going to tip the scales back.

One more week, he thought, excitedly. There was a lot that was going to happen, all of it coordinated for next Monday. So many politicians who deserved to die, so many evil women to take down.

Antone tried his best to control his frenetic pace, so as not to arouse suspicion. There was a lot at stake here, and the Brotherhood would have one chance to make it right.

Making his way through the dilapidated apartment building, Antone knocked on the apartment door, and waited. He heard the footsteps of someone coming to the door.

“It’s Maus” Antone said to the door.

After a pause, the door opened.

“You followed?” the man with straw-colored hair asked. He had pale skin and deep blue eyes.

Antone just gave him a look- “Yeah, right” he replied, walking in.

The apartment appeared old and disheveled, with pieces of garbage and clothing left here or there.

“Everything proceeding as planned?” Antone asked, after his colleague closed the door. The man liked to go by the code name “Pibb”, although Antone had no idea why.

“Yup” Pibb responded, lightly waving a device over Antone. It was standard procedure to check for transmitting devices.

“It’s all shut off” Antone said, after a pause.

“You can’t be too sure” Pibb responded. He looked nervous, as usual.

“Everyone know their targets?” Antone continued.

“Yes sir, Mr. Maus sir” he replied, sarcastically. The problem dealing with hackers was they hated authority.

“Do they have any idea?” Antone asked, vaguely.

Pibb sat down at a desk, and waved his hand over it. A hologram screen appeared.

“None of our servers have detected anything from the pulled messages in the DoD” Pibb explained, looking through his software programs. Although the Department of Defense still existed, it’s secret purpose was to surveil and brainwash the population, instead of its supposed job of protecting America from foreigners.

If only some other country would invade us again. Maybe finish us off, Antone bitterly thought. The economic collapse from the 12 Year War devastated the developed world, not to mention the nuclear fallout. But somehow, some way, America was able to claw its way back to the top.

Damn Europeans can’t get their shit together. Infighting must be in their nature.

And so the Brotherhood would have to cut off the head of the snake themselves. Six days away now...

“Yeah, they don’t have a clue” Pibb finally spoke, ending the silence.

“Excellent. Our weapons procurer has recently informed me that all of the goods are in place for our people to use.”

A heavy silence fell on the room.

“Do you really think things will get better?” Pibb asked, biting his lip.

“I hope so. I really do” Antone replied.

“He’s been in a theta state for over an hour, Miss Garofalo” Dr. Sulstry explained. Miss Garofalo looked over the subject, still in his chair, still under the effects of the hypnotic machine.

“And is he trained?” she asked, coolly. Miss Garofalo was a Director within the Feminist Party, and Dr. Sulstry’s work fell under her supervision.

“Uh, yes, I believe so” Dr. Sulstry said, sounding unsure.

Miss Garofalo turned her discerning gaze upon Dr. Sulstry.

“He’s gone through the steps” Dr. Sulstry said, vaguely. But Miss Garofalo didn’t appreciate the uncertainty. She hated uncertainty.

“Begin the test” Miss Garofalo ordered.

Hurrying over to the machine, Dr. Sulstry pulled off the headphones and the goggles. The subject, a towering man of muscle, was still lying in the chair like a puddle.

“Okay Mr. Sweeney, time to get up” the doctor said, loosening the straps. After he was finally free, Todd continued to stare blankly ahead.

“Slave” Dr. Sulstry corrected herself, “I am your master, and you must obey”

Todd looked at Dr. Sulstry, and slowly closed his jaw.

“I command you to stand up out of that chair” she told him.

Immediately, Todd moved his limbs to attempt an exit from the chair. He had to do so slowly, however, since his muscles had stiffened over the hours.

Stretching his shoulders back, Todd finally stood firmly on the ground in front of Dr. Sulstry.

“What is your purpose?” Dr. Sulstry asked.

Todd looked down at her eyes, “To obey” he said in a monotone voice.

“Do you see that woman over there?” Dr. Sulstry nodded towards Miss Garofalo.

“Yes” he replied, slowly.

“She is your master as well” Dr. Sulstry explained.

Having lost her patience, Miss Garofalo stormed over to Todd, heels clicking angrily-

“You will obey my commands without question. Understood?” she challenged him. She stared intently into his eyes, but he did not show any fear or hesitancy.

“Yes ... master” he replied.

“Where is the one they call, ‘The Mouse’?” she asked firmly.

“Antone ... contacts me”, he explained.

“Antone? What’s his last name?” Miss Garofalo pressed.

Todd shook his head.

“And what is Antone planning?” she asked, with a raised eyebrow. This was the first concrete information they had received about the enigmatic terrorist.

“Chaos”

“So what about the plans for Congress? Is that all set up?” Pibb asked, with curiosity.

“That’s under a different cell” Antone replied, implying that it was need to know, and Pibb didn’t need to know.

“That’s cool. Whatever, man” Pibb said, tossing his hands up, “I just heard you had some crazy fireworks set up, that’s all.”

Antone looked at him in alarm, “Where did you hear that?” he snapped.

“Some Deep Net stuff” he answered nonchalantly.

“What are they saying?” Antone asked in all seriousness.

“Just that a mini-nuke went missing.” Pibb looked at Antone with renewed interest, a question hanging unsaid in the air.

Antone stared at Pibb for a long minute- “That’s classified”

“Oh man, so it’s true?!” Pibb remarked, eyes wide.

“I can neither confirm, nor deny it” Antone answered stately. How the Hell did this information get out? I was assured no one knew it was missing!

Antone nodded towards Pibb’s computer- “I need you to do a favor for me.”

“Sure, man”

Antone looked at his card, which was turned off. “I need you to relay a message through a software I developed on the Net. It’ll let you contact one of my associates, anonymously. Totally untraceable.”

“Yeah, sweet. I got one of those, too” Pibb nodded in appreciation. “Hey, I didn’t know you programmed.”

Antone nodded curtly, “Out of necessity. But no one else knows about it, lest I draw attention to myself. The government’s always looking for hackers.”

“Dude, you are so right” Pibb admitted, “I had no idea you were one of us!”

“And perhaps I can go back to programming after all this is over” Antone murmured.

Finding the site, Pibb downloaded the software that Antone created, and sent a message to an unknown contact. The software was ingenious in that it was a virus, designed to hijack the messages on other applications, and send a copy to the new recipient with the attached message. After being sent, however, the message would erase itself after only 10 seconds. It didn’t leave a virtual footprint, and would only trace back to the hijacked message.

Meet at Uncle Tony’s at 1 pm today. Urgent discussion.

The message was sent successfully. Unfortunately, the messaging was one-way communication, so the contact couldn’t reschedule, or cancel. He didn’t even know if his contact had read the message.

But he’s going to show. He never misses an appointment.

Antone thought about it for another second- unless he’s drunk.

“Alright boss nerd. Anything else?” Pibb quipped.

“Yeah” Antone replied, ignoring his comment, “I want to double check on some other things.” Pibb got out of the chair, letting Antone get to work.

The italian restaurant that Antone decided on was strategically selected- it was low-tech, employed mostly men, and was located in a less traveled part of town. If he needed to, Antone could make his escape in the back (which he had scoped out already), where one of the Taxi rentals were waiting.

Antone was also packing quite the arsenal under his coat, as well.

Waiting at his table patiently, Antone saw the Brotherhood member walk through the door, and make his way slowly to him.

“Hey Todd” Antone greeted him, standing up. They were on a first name basis, only because Todd wouldn’t have even cooperated without knowing Antone’s name. And Todd was way too valuable to lose.

“Hi” Todd replied.

“I have a room in the back” Antone explained, before walking ahead of Todd. Once they made their way to the empty banquet room, they both sat down.

“Now I know you’re probably pissed right now” Antone started, trying to soften Todd’s usual bluster, “But I wanted to meet about that nuke you guys stole a couple weeks ago.”

Antone saw Todd’s scowl, and jumped in before the barrage started, “I know you’re busy, and don’t like me very much, but it was important that I talk to you right away.”

Todd stared at Antone, making Antone feel uncomfortable. Does he always have to be a dick?

“I found some rumors circulating on the Deep Net today about a missing nuke...”

If Todd got the hint that he was supposed to explain himself, he didn’t show it.

Antone visibly sighed, “Todd, you told me that you replaced the nuke with a dummy. Was that true or not?” he finally blurted out.

“It’s true” Todd said, still scowling. He was being especially tight-lipped, even for him.

“Okay- is there any chance the government found out?” Antone pressed, palms up in a sign of exasperation.

“Highly unlikely” Todd replied.

“Well, did you leave any trace of your team being there?” Antone asked. It’s like pulling fucking teeth with this guy!

“None” Todd said simply.

Antone sat back in his chair, and crossed his arms, “I find that hard to believe.”

“It’s true” Todd said with a snarl. The last thing Antone wanted to do was upset Todd, but he had to know.

“Fine, I’ll deal with it somehow” Antone replied, shaking his head.

“Are we still using the nuke on Congress?” Todd asked.

“What? Yeah, of course. There’s too much coordination to call it off” Antone said, brushing off the idea of aborting the missions.

“And we’re going on June 5th, right?” Todd asked.

Antone looked at Todd curiously- what a moron- “Yeah, of course. You’ll remember, right?” Antone asked with sudden concern.

“Blow up the Capitol Building on Monday, got it” Todd replied.

Antone was trying to figure out whether Todd was playing dumb, or just being dumb...

Wait ... something’s not right. The hair on the back of his neck started to straighten. And Antone always trusted his instincts.

Does he have a recording device?! Shit!

Todd continued to stare at Antone, who was trying his best to act casual-

“So ... there’s some other mission stuff I wanted to talk to you about” Antone said, thinking fast. If he could prolong the conversation, he could think of a way out of this.

If it’s a set up, there’s no way I’m walking out the front door

“I have another mission for your whole team” he said, watching Todd’s expression.

And if Todd is willingly involved, the back door is not an option, either

Todd, predictably, did not react. “It’s another assassination, this time of a high-value target in the White House.”

Antone looked at his surroundings, which is what he would’ve done anyways if not surveilled.

“But there’s a lot of details. And I’m going to need something to eat, first. You hungry?”

Todd shook his head.

“Alright, let me-”

“No” Todd said quickly, putting his hand up to block Antone from getting up. It surprised Antone, and made him think quickly of his gun.

“Let me get the waiter” he offered. It felt so wooden and forced, that Antone’s suspicions were now confirmed- something is definitely wrong with him.