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  MR. BLOOD: Sand Point?

  THE DEFENDANT: Yes—although first I consulted with—

  THE COURT: Let's stay on the topic here, gentlemen. Mr. Blood?

  MR. BLOOD: Yes, Your Honor. Mr. Miller, can you tell the court who was involved in the actual shooting?

  THE DEFENDANT: You want names?

  MR. BLOOD: Yes, sir.

  THE DEFENDANT: All right. Sergeant William Benedict. Patrolmen Charles Lota and Richard Greenberg. Donald Gill. Herman Colberg. Ray Saunders. Timothy Carew. Gregory Kilroy. Doug Moller. I think that's everyone.

  MR. BLOOD: Thank you, Mr. Miller.

  MR. ZACCARO: Your Honor, I'd like it noted that we are now providing the district attorney with a list of the officers involved.

  THE COURT: So noted. Does the protectorate have any further questions?

  MR. BLOOD: No, Your Honor.

  MS. GALNICK: No, sir.

  MR. ZACCARO: Your Honor, in light of my client's complete and unconditional cooperation, I'd like to move for an immediate dismissal of the charges against him.

  THE COURT: I think such a move would require the concurrence of the protectorate. Ms. Galnick?

  MS. GALNICK: At this time, the protectorate is unwilling to make such a concurrence, Your Honor.

  THE COURT: Very well. Then—

  MR. ZACCARO: If it please the court. My client and I would like a moment to confer.

  THE COURT: Very well. The court will take this opportunity to recess. We will return at 10:00 A.M., promptly.

  THE CLERK: All rise.

  Beginning at 10:00 A.M., approximately.

  THE CLERK: Court is in session, case 98-012, Military Protectorate of Seattle versus Rollins A. Miller, the Honorable Judge George Herman Speers presiding.

  THE COURT: Chief Miller, I remind you that you are still under oath.

  THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.

  MR. ZACCARO: Counselor, at this time my client would like to offer additional information to the court.

  THE COURT: Concerning …

  MR. ZACCARO: Some related disappearances during the years in question.

  THE COURT: Now hold on a minute, Counselor—

  MS. GALNICK: Your Honor, this is highly irregular. The protectorate feels strongly that significant consideration due the defendant has already—

  THE COURT: There won't be any deals made here without your approval, Ms. Galnick.

  THE DEFENDANT: I'm prepared to talk about a lot of things related to the riot squads, Your Honor. The Coffeehouse Crackdown, Sector 55—

  THE COURT: Strike that statement from the record!

  MR. ZACCARO: Your Honor?

  THE COURT: You hear me, clerk? Strike that from the record.

  THE CLERK: Yes, sir.

  THE DEFENDANT: Judge, you can't—

  THE COURT: Don't tell me what I can and cannot do in my courtroom. I tell you we're not going to hear testimony on that subject. And I forbid counsel—under the threat of contempt—to discuss the subject outside this courtroom.

  MS. GALNICK: Your Honor, I'm puzzled.

  THE COURT: See that you stay that way.

  MR. ZACCARO: Your Honor, may I approach the bench?

  THE COURT: You stay right where you are, sir. Court is adjourned for the day. We'll pick up tomorrow—testimony will be under seal. Court closed to all but essential personnel. Is that understood, bailiff? Very well. That's all.

  THE CLERK: All rise.

  Session Ends

  We were right back where we started from.

  Sanders had led us to Miller. Miller had led us to Sand Point and the eighteen buried bodies. But now Miller was dead, and our investigation into Margaret Curran's disappearance—into the mystery of Sector 55—was dead in the water.

  Sure, we knew Speers had covered up Miller's testimony, but getting to him would probably have been just as impossible as getting to Lemkin or Marbury.

  One good thing came out of the whole mess—the families of those eighteen people killed by the riot squads back in 2010 finally had some closure. But Asha and I had nothing—except for the Sand Point company info, and Miller's phone records.

  I looked those over one more time. All the outside numbers Miller had called back then were now out of service … except for one.

  DECRYPTION: SECURE 8 DECRYPTION STAMP: 5/8/21 ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT: 4/15/21 L = Cale, Logan, A = Ames Brothers Phone Operator

  FILE BEGINS

  A: Ames Brothers Construction. Can I help you?

  L: Hello—this is 879-2638-4638?

  A: Yes, it is.

  L: Good. My name is John Eastman, and I'm wondering if I can ask you a few questions.

  A: This is a place of business, sir.

  L: I understand that. I'm with the—ah, Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce. I'll make this very quick.

  A: All right.

  L: You're a construction company?

  A: That's correct. Ames Brothers Construction.

  L: And you've been in business about how long?

  A: Almost fifty years.

  L: Really?

  A: That's right. The company was started by John Ames back in the 1970s.

  L: And you've had the same phone number all that time?

  A: Well. No. The same number since about a year after the Pulse.

  L: So since 2010?

  A: That's correct.

  L: That's what I needed to know. Thank you very much.

  A: Say, what's this for?

  L: Just a little survey we're conducting on the stability of area businesses. Say, I wonder if you could tell me a little bit about your company? I'm looking to have a little work done on my house.

  A: Well, we're a pretty specialized kind of firm.

  L: Is that so?

  A: Yes. If you have a fax number, I could send you out some information.

  FILE CONTINUES

  We were able to find out a little more about Ames Construction—specifically, John Ames, the company's founder. He retired in 2015, and moved to Barbados—where he's apparently living like a king.

  It was a safe bet that Ames's 401(k) came courtesy of Sand Point Redevelopment. The question we couldn't answer, though, was what he'd done to earn it. I spent hours scouring the Net for a connection between Ames and Margaret Curran, between Miller and Curran, between Lemkin and Marbury and anything at all to do with a Sector 55.

  About midnight I gave up and went for a walk downtown to clear my head. It's pretty desolate down there these days. All the old tourist attractions—places that used to be lit up in neon till two in the morning—got trashed in the first few years of rioting after the Pulse. I remembered them like they used to be—Pike Place, the Space Needle, Pioneer Square …

  And bingo—a little lightbulb went off in my head. A little purple lightbulb.

  I took that tour when I was a kid. I remember going down a flight of stairs, and suddenly there were all these dusty old streets and storefronts looking like pages out of a history “book. There's a lot more down there than most people realize.

  And I also remember looking up through the glass sidewalks, with the light shining down through them. It was purple, Matt. The light was purple. Just like Margaret said in her note.

  It didn't prove she was down there, of course. But it was a step forward.

  I went “back to the apartment and called Asha. She reminded me that underground Seattle's “been closed off for years—that nobody's allowed down there anymore, ever since the riots in 2014. The Coffeehouse Crackdowns.

  “We'll have to “be careful, going in,” she said.

  A lot of things suddenly fell into place for me. Ames Construction, for one— they'd worked for Miller during that same time period, 2014, 2015, when the underground was first closed off. Building something for the chief, and his friends at Sand Point.

  What if that something was the prison where Margaret was “begin held? What if Sector 55 referred to that facility as well? After all, downtown was Sector 5. Sector 55 might refer to
the area underneath that.

  It was a lot to assume.

  But that morning, I was eager to get out there, and prove—or disprove—my theory.

  It was April 18.

  That night, my EYES ONLY hack was traced. I was lucky to escape with my life.

  Since then, I've “been unable to contact Curran's daughter Asha. Unable to follow up on any of this.

  That's where you come in.

  Go to underground Seattle. Find out what's down there now.

  Find Margaret Curran.

  I don't care if you're religious or not—that article should prove something to you.

  One man really can make a difference in the world. For those of us raised in the shadow of the church's endless scandals at the turn of the century, it may be hard to believe that the one man was the pope. But what Leo achieved in his first two years as pontiff was just astounding.

  Unfortunately, those first two years were all he got.

  In retrospect, the press had it right. Leo's death was hardly surprising. All the enemies he made, the way he refused to negotiate on what he considered “matters of conscience”—it's no wonder someone took him out.

  The question, obviously, was who. It wasn't the kind of thing EYES ONLY would normally look into.

  But then again …

  Leo wasn't the normal sort of pope.

  Food for thought indeed.

  I was starting to get a bad feeling about this. An Iran-Contra, Hussein-Castro, black ops kind of feeling. A feeling like the decision to kill the pope might have been made right here, in the old U.S. of A.

  It was just a feeling, of course. I still needed facts to confirm it. Facts about covert U.S. operations—past, present, and future. DoD and NSA position papers. U.S. Army troop movements, unscheduled resupply operations—I had to start with some very broad brushstrokes. It was a lot to ask for.

  As a certain someone was quick to remind me.

  Arizona Unit. Phoenix objectives.

  I had no idea what this Stendahl was referring to, but the memo had Arizona flying into Rome on August 5—the same day that “Pollack” arrived. Could be one and the same flight.

  It was also clear that the Mediterranean Coalition was somehow involved. If anyone had reason to want Leo out of the picture, it was them.

  That bad feeling I had before was only getting stronger.

  And then it became a certainty.

  Covert Components:

  The post-Pulse world resembles in many ways the post-WWII Cold War period, when the two superpowers—the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.—fought a struggle for world domination through proxies, or client nations. This period is correctly recognized by historians today as an apocalyptic struggle between good and evil.

  A struggle of the same kind is being played out today on the world stage, though the struggle this time is not between two countries, but between two different ways of life. Between the civilized world, and the uncivilized. Between the forces of order, and those of chaos. And as in the past, we must not shy from utilizing whatever methods necessary—whatever proxies necessary— to achieve our goals.

  These methods can include:

  Proxy corporations, following economic policies constructive to Phoenix. Funding to allow the pursuit of otherwise nonprofitable activities can be sought from private and government (“off the books”) sources (Appendix E).

  Proxy armies, either state-affiliated or “black ops,” in pursuit of targets actively hostile to Phoenix. Along these lines, DoD has developed a highly versatile weapon—a twenty-first-century soldier that can be utilized in either deep-cover situations (assassination) or field operations (combat scenarios). In either case, training and unit capabilities will both prevent exposure and keep casualties to a minimum. The flexibility that these new units provide us cannot be overemphasized: in cases where we previously might send a thousand soldiers into battle and expect to lose a hundred, we will now be able to send in ten and sustain no casualties (Appendix F).

  In conclusion, we believe that when America is strong, the world is safe. When America is able to act unilaterally, free from the constraints imposed on her by a commingling of contradictory impulses from nation-states with differing interests, the world is safe. The image of the Phoenix, rising from the ashes, is the symbol for our project. America, rising from the ashes of the Pulse, to reclaim her place in the world.

  Appendixes A–F attached, along with concluding remarks.

  Respectfully submitted,

  D. Stendahl

  This paper was prepared at the direction of the Committee. In addition to the author, valuable input was given by:

  Carl Buchanan and Paul Charvel, Department of Homeland Security

  George Carson, Department of Defense

  John Michael Lodge, Byrd Center for International Relations

  Frank Sandoval, Special Liaison

  Major General Tai Sunabadum, USAF

  Nothing dies as hard as a dream. And the dream shared at heart by every American, ever since the days of Jefferson and Jackson, Lincoln and Grant, Roosevelt and Truman, has been a simple one.

  The dream of Manifest Destiny—one nation, under God, destined to rule the world.

  People in Washington dreamed that dream more than anyone: they longed for the days when America would speak, and other countries would hurry to obey.

  Stendahl had promised them those days back again—and more. No doubt the government had given him what he'd asked for. A fully funded Phoenix Project, in all its overt—and covert—glory.

  But Phoenix wasn't just about the good old days. Phoenix was also about the new, twenty-first-century soldier—an extremely powerful weapon, according to Stendahl's memo; so powerful, in fact, that ten of them could take the place of a thousand ordinary men in battle.

  A highly versatile weapon capable of being utilized in deep-cover situations as well as in the field. In covert operations—such as assassination. An almost superhuman weapon—one whose capabilities were almost limitless.

  Stendahl's paper didn't mention where these twenty-first-century soldiers were supposed to come from. But that was all right. I already knew the answer to that question.

  They came from a test tube.

  They came from Manticore.

  SOURCE: F:/TEMPFILES/NET/EYESONLY/ENGL.ISH/09282020/TEXT

  IMAGES:

  … /09282020/IMAGES/DODFRM.1

  … /09282020/IMAGES/DODFRM.2

  … /09282020/IMAGES/DODFRM.3

  … /09282020/IMAGES/DODFRM.4

  … /09282020/IMAGES/DNA.QT

  … /09282020/IMAGES/FETUS.QT

  … /09282020/IMAGES/BARRACKS.AVI

  … /09282020/IMAGES/GILLETE.3

  RUN EYES ONLY INTRO

  Do not attempt to adjust your set. This is a Streaming Freedom Video bulletin. The cable hack will last exactly sixty seconds. It cannot be traced. It cannot be stopped. And it is the only free voice left in this city.

  Since the early 1990s, billions of your tax dollars have been diverted from legitimate government programs in order to fund secret experiments in genetic engineering. This covert operation is known as Project Manticore. Its goal: to create the perfect soldier. Manticore uses recombinant DNA technology to manipulate the human genome. Genetically enhanced for superior strength and speed, these children are held against their will and subjected to relentless training and propaganda. In the fall of 2009, twelve of them escaped from this facility in Gillette, Wyoming.

  Manticore spent the next ten years hunting them down, desperate to keep its existence a secret. Some of them were caught, some of them were murdered. Some gave their lives fighting to stay free.

  Since these cable hacks began, Manticore has consolidated its operations to a secret location. But they can't hide forever. EYES ONLY will find it. And the people responsible for these crimes will be brought to justice.

  BROADCAST DATE: 09/28/20

  TIME: 19:10

  I “broadcast that hack nine months ago. Now i
t seems prescient. We did find Manticore, and expose it to the world.

  The people in charge responded “by “burning down the facility and trying to destroy the proof of its existence—all the transgenics inside. Living, “breathing people who were treated like matériel, to “be discarded when their usefulness had ended. Max and I helped them escape.

  With their facility trashed, and their perfect soldiers scattered, we figured Manticore was finished. But now it seemed as if we might have “been wrong.

  Manticore “burned down September 2020. The pope was killed three months later. And his killer sure as hell looked like an X5. One of Max's “brothers.”

  Were some of those soldiers still out there? If so, who was giving them their orders? Somebody high up in the government, that was for certain. Troy had promised me minutes from the closed Senate hearings on Leo's visit. He was gone now—”but I still wanted to see them. So I had to go directly to the source.

  DECRYPTION: SECURE 9 DECRYPTION STAMP: 5/8/21 ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT: 2/14/21 L = Cale, Logan, S = *********

  FILE B.EGINS

  S: Senator *****'s office.

  L: Is this *****?

  S: Yes. Who's calling, please?

  L: This is Troy's friend.

  S: Oh.

  L: Don't say my name.

  S: All right.

  L: I need your help, *******. Can you talk freely?

  S: I don't know if I want to do this.

  L: People have died. You can help prevent that from happening again.

  S: Or I could be next.

  L: That's always a possibility—but that doesn't alter the fact that I need your help, if the truth is to be revealed. If those death are to mean anything.

  S: You're so reassuring.

  L: So I've been told.

  S: All right, I'll help.

  L: Thank you, *****.

  S: But I can't get the transcripts of those hearings. They've changed access protocols.

  L: What about an agenda—a list of witnesses?

  S: No. Same thing. Although …