"What do you man .. I don't exist?" John was getting frustrated.
"I'm talking about official records John." Henderson replied
"You were already pretty low on the radar, but recent events seem to have eliminated
you almost completely."
The man's tone was disturbingly matter of fact.
"What'recent events'?" asked John. Staying clam was becoming increasingly diffcult.
"We'll get to that" said the man, reopening the file infront of him.
"You were born in Tarsus Falls."
"You were home schooled by your mother."
"And at 16 you started apprenticing in your father's business, restoring antique furniture
and clocks."
"5 years ago, you took over the business after your parents death in a car accident."
"No military service, no hospitalisations since birth, no criminal record and no out
of Province travel."
"All in all John, a very thin paper trail."
"Standard birth records, DNA, etc."
"Some tax records .. and really not too much else."
"But certainly enough to prove you existed." The man's thin smile returned.
Apparently he had amused himself again.
"But six days ago, two things happened."
"The first you've probably seen on the news"
"Rioters burned down the Central Records Office in New Washington."
John had seen it, it had been all over the news for days.
Large burning buildings make good TV.
"The second event you won't have heard of."
"You might want to sit down for this."
John looked at Henderson.
The mans face was still carried that 'matter of fact' look.
But something in his eyes told John this was serious.
John recovered his chair from where he had pushed it aside earlier and sat down.
Henderson continued.
"6 days ago at 2.13am we detected a seismic event."
"From the fault?" John asked.
John was referring to the geological fault that lay around 100 miles of the coast of
Tamarin.
Seismic events were common.
Tamarin Island was surrounded by an network of sophisticated sensor stations
that monitored everything from seismic and thermal activity to radar and sonar.
50 years ago the island had been completely destroyed by a giant Tsunami caused by an
underwater earthquake.
Since then the Academy had devoted huge resources to Tamarin's flood defences and early warning
systems to prevent another similar disaster in the future.
"No, not the fault" said Henderson
"From the opposite direction. From the midwest."
John stared at Henderson.
Tarsus was in the midwest.
What could have happened?
"At the same time,"
"satelite surveilance picked up a heat bloom followed by significantly increased levels
of radiation."
A burning sensation in his chest made John realised he had stopped breathing.
"Where?" asked John. Forcing himself to inhale slowly.
"Tarsus Falls." said Henderson.
John had known he was going to say Tarsus but it still hit him like a sledgehammer.
"After that we heard nothing. OmegaCo enforced a news blackout and shutdown the whole area."
"Heavy cloud cover meant satelite imagery was useless so we sent in a drone."
Henderson picked up a small black remote and activated a large view screen mounted on the
wall of the conference room.
John turned to watch.
"Sorry about the quality. The radiation plays hell with the drones electronics"
"The center of Tarsus was too hot for us to get any closer."
"This is in the suburbs, around 5 miles from the epicentre"
"As you can see, there's not much left."
"We're estimate casualties at upwards of 500,000"
"It's gone." John thought to himself.
"Tarsus is gone."
As the images abruptly ended, John turned back to Henderson.
"What happened?" John's tone was steely.
"Honestly? We have no idea."
"We know it wasn't a missle based attack."
"Satelites would have detected any launches."
"There's no Nuclear Plant anywhere near Tarsus."
"So our best guess is that someone smuggled in a device and detonated it."
Henderson closed the file in front of him.
John's mid raced. It was gone. All of it. Everything he'd ever known
Everyone he'd ever known.
"Duncan?" John exclaimed. As the thought suddenly hit him.
"Duncan's fine" said Henderson, his tone was surprisingly reassuring.
That was the first time his voice had held any real emotion.
"We belive the two events were connected."
"The New Washington Central Records Office had an off site backup facility."
"Would you like to take a guess where that facility was located?"
Tarsus. Though John.
"We think someone was trying to destry information."
"But in reality we're just guessing. We have no idea who's behind the attack or what they
were really trying to achieve."
"But the side effect of these two events was to effectively wipe out your official existence."
"We've spent the last few days erradicating any traces that remained."
"You don't exist and that makes you very interesting to us."
"You see it's pretty easy to create records for someone. Create a new identity."
"But you'd be surprised just how difficult it is to actually erase someone."
"OK" said John. "So that explains why you want me."
"What are you going to do about Tarsus Falls?"
"We'll investigate." said Henderson.
"Maybe the backup facility wasn't the real target. Maybe it was just a coincidence. But
that's what we specialise in John."
"We investigate coincidences, to make sure they really are coincidences."
"I'm putting a team on this and I'm a man short. What I need to know is .. are you that
man?"
"Yes." John said it without even thinking.
"Good." said Henderson. "Then it's time to meet your team."
Henderson reached into his pocket and produced a small silver metal container.
He slid it across the table toward John.
John picked it up and flipped open the lid.
Inside was a small clear plastic disk. Smaller than a fingernail.
"Place it behind your ear" said Henderson.
"Against the bone."
John picked up the disk with his fingertip and placed it on the boney ridge behind his
ear.
"Say hello to your Handler." Henderson smiled that tight lipped smile again.
"Hello? said John. Not quite knowing what to expect.
"Hello John"
"Gulie?"
"Yes John."
"I'm looking forward to working with you."
"Gulie will provide you with technical support. Information, communcations, etc. She will
also arrange any logistical support you and your team require."
"The team is made up of three members."
"Two primary operatives. That's you and your partner."
"The third member is your Backup. The Backup shadows the Primaries but maintains what we
call 'Separation."
"You'll only have contact with your Backup through Gulie unless it's absolutely essential."
"As well as watching your back, the Backup also perform certain 'special functions' for
the team."
John had a few ideas about what those 'special functions' might be but he was genuinely afraid
to ask.
"You've already met your Backup. Terry. He brought you here."
The driver.
No wonder he had no problem getting through security thought john.
Henderson pressed the button on the intercom that sat in the center of the conference table.
"You can send them in now" He said perfunctorily.
After a few seconds, the door of the conference room opened and John spun his chair around.
"John" said Henderson.
"I'd like you to meet your new partner."