PROJECT SPARTA

CHAPTER 36

Tobias's Warehouse

Northern DC

2016

Mickey's A/C Repair van screeched to a halt in Tobias's warehouse located in the upper North side. The van door flew open and the Spartans got out. The uplink to the surveillance feed remained so Mac was able to monitor the city's search for the suspicious van, seen driving away from the assassination of a US Senator. The entirety of the district's police force was already searching for the van. Mac rushed to wipe the traffic cams around them, erasing any trace of their position within the city. He also erased random cameras scattered throughout the city so as to not leave a distinct trail of absent video, that would lead straight to them. The large rusted garage door crashed shut as the Spartan's closed themselves in their safe house. The Spartans hurried through Tobias's mad scientist lab, cluttered as usual. Some exhaled gasp of amazement, while Seamus laughed.

"I wouldn't expect you're place to look like anything else," he said in jest. The Spartans hustled about as they set up shop. They were in crisis mode at the moment, but Xander remained calm and collected.

"Senator Bashfield is dead and I would be surprised if we wouldn't be the key suspects in her assassination. But the surveillance was managed well, thank you Mac, and we don't have identities," Xander recounted.

"That's always a plus," Seamus quipped.

"Alright I've swept the area – the van should be clean from all traffic cams," Mac said with one final punch of the Enter key.

"Well, what's in the damn box!" Jooles couldn't wait any longer. Xander held out his fist and unclenched it revealing the key. Mac brought the box over to a table that Tobias cleared off with one big sweep of his arm.

The Spartans crowded the wooden table in Tobias's warehouse laboratory. Their collective gaze fell to the box before them. Xander lowered the key and inserted it into the character.

Click – it unlocked.

Xander peeled the lid of the box back and it creaked open. The sight before the Spartans struck them odd. Each of the six heads surrounding the opened box leaned forward and squinted at the box's only contents. There in a small hollow in the stone's center was a thumb-sized crystal cube. The cube was unclear and uncleaned – only the slightest sparkle came from its surface.

"What the..." Mac voiced his confusion.

"Tobias..." Xander held his hand out and a loupe met it. The small round microscope eyepiece, typically used by jewelers to inspect gems, was brought to Xander's eye. He took his time inspecting the crystal, studying every detail of the cube's interior. The suspense built in the room as they awaited word.

"Well, that's odd," Xander began to speak in baffled tones, pausing a moment to confirm his observation. "This crystal... it has got to be the most imperfect crystal I have ever seen." Although Xander was no expert, lines zigged-zagged all over the inside of the cube in no logical pattern. He tossed the rock and loupe to Tobias for the moment, hoping the lab rat could find something. He had reached another dead end with no lead, plopping down in a foldable chair away from the group. Each Spartan inspected the crystal cube through the loupe as Xander reflected.

What the hell does Agent Zero want from me?! Why all of these games?

Xander was unable to process his failures. As if on autopilot, his mind raced towards the thousands of possibilities and sifted through the variables at play. Nothing was falling into place. His fist tightened at the realization. He emerged from his contemplation with a boiling rage. Xander thrashed through a pile of crates in the corner of the warehouse. Splinters exploded from the scene as he slammed the wooden crates into the wall and ground. He destroyed the crates in a fury that the Spartans all knew existed in Xander. As he paced back and forth like a caged tiger, he stopped at a hopeful voice from the other end of the warehouse.

"Z... Z... Xander, you have to sssssee this!" Tobias perked up having found something upon inspection. He worked like a crime scene investigator, no detail passed him. Tobias ran over toward the rusted sliding door and pulled a lever down – the warehouse went pitch black. Tobias returned to the lab table but not before he tripped over the smashed crate that Xander had kicked through.

"Th...th...those aren't imper...f...f...fections, Xander.... Well, they are, bah...bah...but not the kkkkind you think. It is va...va...very easy to grow crystals in a laboratory."

"What do you mean this was made by Agent Zero?" Xander asked trying to see the logic.

"It was k...kr...created in a...a...a lab," Tobias responded.

"But why?..." Xander still searched.

"T...t...to r...r...reveal the target..." Tobias smiled, showing Xander he was onto something.

Tobias flipped a jointed desk lamp on and positioned it to spotlight the upper wall before the Spartans. Tobias held the crystal out in the path of the light and up on the wall the scattered imperfections shown in no particular pattern or order. Tobias smiled up at Xander and explained where he had gone wrong.

"You j...j...just didn't ssssss....see them at the rah...rah...right angle." He rotated the crystal bit by bit and the shadowy splinters projected on the wall from the crystal began shifting as the light entered the cube at different points. The splinters began to come together and form a small amount of text. The words fell into view. The Spartans marveled at the message projected on the wall. Xander read it aloud through gaping eyes.

"July 4tH...."

"That's tomorrow..." Seamus added.

"Why is the H capitalized?" Ashton asked.

"Maybe it was to easily differentiate the letters. It would be difficult to decipher an 'h' from a 'b' at that size..." Jooles speculated.

It was a passing thought because the focus was purely on the message shining on the wall. Tobias then continued to rotate the cube on its end until the text scattered again and came back together to form another image projected on the wall. There the Spartans marveled as the puzzle pieces came together to reveal a curious symbol. It looked like an encircled sun, with jagged rays coming out from a central orb.

Jooles offered a gasp upon recognizing the symbol.

"Shit..." Jooles hand came to her mouth.

"There's a fireworks show on the National Mall on the 4th of July, isn't there?" Jooles asked through a look of horror.

"Yeah, why?" Xander prayed for a definite answer.

"Because that is without a doubt the logo of the Smithsonian Institute..."

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