Fragments and Memories: Prologue
Reece Hale is undercover and forced to steal one of the few remaining Red Mortalis samples. All of this orchestrated by his old employer Zetonik.
About: Reece Hale is a man who has been forced back into a dangerous game to save his family. His old employer, Zetonik, chasing a return to the global stage have his family and all they want in return is for him to secure a remaining sample of the Red Mortalis. For Reece, this means turning his back on the woman who trusts him more than anyone; Doctor Danielle Yale. From his betrayal and through his unique hybrid Mortalis nature, Doctor Yale will use him to discover Zetonik’s endgame for the Mortalis.
‘You stole something from me. So I’ve stolen your life from you.’ - Doctor Danielle Yale.
Those words still echoed in his mind, even now. Rikard wanted to answer her. He just couldn’t. When he opened his mouth, the words refused to come out. All his aching mind could do was recollect those memories from the day many years ago when his life changed forever. Because of what they did to him. In the deepest pit of his cold, icy heart. He knew, and he was sure she knew. There could be no turning back the clock now. In betraying her, he had destroyed all the trust she had left.
The heavy rain pattered against the window and no matter how hard Reece tried, he couldn’t seem to get comfy. He sat in a brown, leather-backed chair beside a king-sized bed. A flickering lamp sat humming on the small bedside table nearby, providing the only source of light. He enjoyed watching the street below. He was waiting for a phone call. It was around this time, most nights, when his client contacted him. But for once they fancied tormenting him. The black telephone was always in the corner of his eye and he couldn’t help himself by tapping a way impatiently at the armrest. The drunken revellers, both human and Kaskari below him, were celebrating the day the Fall ended. It was on this day, close to a hundred and fifty years ago, that the Kaskari Ascenders descended in their castles and saved humanity from encroaching extinction. He couldn’t hide his amusement as they stumbled towards the neon-lit heart of Rudrei City. He envied them, though. In the dark recesses of his mind, he wanted more than ever to have their freedom. He wanted liberation from the nightmare he had lived for the past twelve years!
For a second, his mind travelled back to the day he narrowly escaped the mansion and its sick experiments. By his side had been Felicity and he had hoped that no more problems would come their way following that, but Zetonik just had to come knocking. The very people who had once kicked him to the curb now more than ever needed him for their return to the global stage.
Two hours finally passed before a loud ringing pierced his ears and woke him from his depressed stupor. He reached for the phone and lifted it off its hook, raising it to his ear. He heard static first before a distorted voice started speaking.
“On the 15th, we will execute the transfer. You said the convoy will be heading northwest for Vale. We will intercept and secure the formula. If we even suspect you’ve gone against us, you will live to regret it, Reece.”
“It won’t go wrong. I can promise you that,” answered Reece.
“So you’re confident that you’re above suspicion?”
“I’ve had plenty of access to the storage section. I have the trust of Doctor Danielle Yale. She completely believes that I am Rikard Aldridge. She doesn’t suspect a thing. Just be ready. There’s bound to be some kind of escort.”
“Oh, we will be. We will not pass up this opportunity. But we can’t afford any more delays, Reece. Time is not a commodity. And you already know what the cost of failure will be.”
Reece gritted his teeth. “I know. You have the schedule I sent you, right?” said Reece, turning his focus back to the stumbling folk down below.
There was a loud click and then silence from the other end.
He let out a heavy sigh, and said while putting the receiver back into its slot, “I just hope this works, otherwise I lose everything. Not just my freedom if I get caught. But my wife and daughter. If I can’t pull this off, there’s no telling what might happen to them.”
He tried controlling his troubled breaths, but he couldn’t stop his trembling hands. He was playing with fire doing this job. However, the payment of over three million dollars was worth it. There was something bigger now dwelling on his tormented mind. It was the condition of his wife, Felicity, and only daughter, Sarah. His family was the leverage used to rope him back into Zetonik’s dangerous game. The Red Mortalis serum was sought by many. The potential it possessed could change many lives and destroy many more. His blackmailers, and at one stage in his young life employer Zetonik, had already wired in the first million to an offshore account he had in the eastern nation of Zhian. It told him that while they were heartless bastards, they would stay true to their word. He had received snippets of recordings from his family, and from those short logs, they sounded fine, but he couldn’t hide the worrying creeping into his mind every night that woke him from a restless sleep.
Zetonik had another card up their sleeve, though. They had deliberately kept the identity of those set to intercept his convoy a secret. And that too was a concern because no matter what came to mind, their motivation to steal the Red Mortalis serum still remained a mystery to him. Its potency as a weapon was something he was aware of after being subjected to it. However, the Genesis scientist Doctor Danielle Yale’s attempt to synthesise her own copy had proven to be tricky. The sample crystals they had recovered from the Winchester facility would often destabilise if anyone attempted to extract any material.
He wasn’t sure how Doctor Neumann had synthesised his variant of the Mortalis in the first, but he knew that the parasite used to create it had its roots in the heart of Tri-Tokyo. The first of the Red Mortalis, and the Deterrent had together reduced the Foundation, Zaidan, and Anka, the under city to rubble. In the years that followed this disaster, the Red Winter incident would occur, dragging him into this whole tangled web.
Whilst Zetonik believed it had backed him into the corner. There was only one neglected detail that he had purposefully kept to himself, and that was his colleague, Security Officer Jacob Faulkner. The only man in that place who knew his true identity. They had an arrangement in place that guaranteed he got a cut of the payment for assisting Reece. The most important thing, though, was that this man was his only backup. Just in case the Zetonik and those intercepting tried anything dodgy. And with a Red Mortalis sample in hand, he could always flip the scale, slip away, and bargain for his family. He smiled at the idea of making the new Zetonik Chairman Giles squirm. He continued watching more drunkards stumble from club to club, so blissfully unaware of the cold world surrounding them. He stood up and took in the large bedroom one last time before walking a short way to his cluttered desk at the end of his bed. He may have already planned everything. But it still didn’t hurt to make contingencies in case something managed to go wrong. He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a photo of his family. He struggled to hold back the tears. His life up till now had been full of painful regret. He wanted now more than ever for an escape. To put this awful nightmare to bed. Forever.