Origins (Remote) by Eric Drouant Read Free Book Online Page A

By the time we’re done these men have a complete understanding of how we think and how we’d react to certain situations. Basically, it’s our entire plan of attack.”
    “And now he’s missing.”
    “Yes, I hate to say it but we might be better off if he died in the crash. If he’s alive, and they can get information from him, we’re severely compromised.”
    Archer was sympathetic but saw no opportunity to help. Pilots shot down in Viet Nam were the business of the Air Force. While he had people with some minimum connection to the Viet Cong and NVA, those assets would take weeks to develop anything, if they ever did. He was about to dismiss the man with a sincere apology when he thought of New Orleans.
    “I can’t make any promises, Colonel Breed” Archer said, “but I’ll see what I can do. You have all the details?”
    Breed nodded, handing over a thick folder. “Everything’s in here, locations, flight patterns, everything we have.” He picked his hat up off the desk and went out the door.
    Archer was left alone. For the last week he’d been mulling over the situation down in New Orleans. He was torn between his two agents. Cutter was a good man, perhaps too methodical but that was the way of scientists. And despite his academic background he had been involved in some high level analysis and done well with it. Thorne on the other hand, often operated on the fly, trusting his instincts perhaps too much. But the man had also pulled off some impressive operations. Perhaps it was time to run a little test. Give these two kids two separate problems and see which one of them could produce results, if any.
     
     
    When the word came down it was all Thorne could do to contain himself. The phone call from Archer had been brief and to the point. Ronnie would be given one assignment, the location of a missing pilot. The girl was given something softer but equally important. The decisions had been based on Cutter’s perception of their abilities. It had also been given against his better judgement.
    “We’re pushing too hard,” Cutter had said, the tension in his voice evident to Archer. “This is too cut and dried. Suppose they don’t come up with the right results? That doesn’t mean they won’t be useful in other areas. It’ s not a pass or fail business.”
    “Relax, Cutter.” Archer was working both sides of the fence. He had appeased Thorne with the assignment. Now he had to keep Cutter in line and happy. “We’re just running a little test. Let’s see what happens. What can it hurt? If it works out we’ve learned something. If it doesn’t I’ll let you call the shots for a while.”
    That being decided, Farrow and Ruff were called. Plans were made. Thorne wanted to call a special session, get the kids in immediately. Cutter convinced him to wait for the regular Wednesday date, only two days away. From Archer’s point of view it was a successful exercise in management. Nobody was completely happy.
     
     
    Ronnie Gilmore was in a sweat. He’d been spending one hour a week alone with Farrow for a few weeks now. Each and every Wednesday Farrow would show up with his crew cut and his briefcase and they’d spend the first half an hour just talking. The man seemed especially interested in the political world, something Ronnie paid no attention to at all, especially since it always seemed to be some foreign country where everyone had strange sounding names. The focus seemed to be on Ronnie learning geography, making him memorize the locations of different countries in Europe and Asia. Sometimes he had to learn the names of the rulers of these countries. As the weeks wore on things began to get a little stranger and an uneasy feeling crept into Ronnie, a feeling that made his stomach hurt and his heart pound a little harder.
    Ronnie was thinking that Farrow himself looked the worse for wear. His tie, always perfectly aligned and clipped with a narrow gold clip to his spotless white shirt, was