Enlightenment [Book 2: SEKTOR V Trilogy]

Chapter 5: Ministry Still Reeling

Chapter 5: Ministry Still Reeling

Gus Lebanchek sat at his desk, reviewing area reports from the past several days. These days, it was an exercise he went through every Friday morning and one that he dreaded each time. They consistently showed the Ministry's inability to completely maintain civil order in most of the larger cities within the US. A similar picture existed abroad. Conditions were never too severe in any one place. Activities mostly consisted of small, unorganized labor protests that would, on occasion, result in violence. Sometimes riot police had to be deployed to quell and or contain the disruptions from getting out of control. While none of these actions required the use of any "real force," for Gus that was no consolation at all. Gone were the days of peace and tranquility, when the Ministry's grip was complete and unquestioned.

"Hmmmph," he grunted as he shook his head with mild disgust at how things had changed after the Underground made a mess of things nearly a year ago. Even though Gus instituted an endless array of "corrective measures" to try and bring back stability to the global socioeconomic system, none of the Ministry's efforts ever came close to being effective.

The once-vaunted, global Sweeper program that used to easily snuff out even the smallest whiff of instability well before anything ever materialized was now in shambles and exhibited almost no practical value to speak of. Today's Sweeper program was barely serviceable, 90 percent less efficient than it once was.

The problem was easy to see in hindsight. Subtly, over time, the Underground managed to push the Ministry's 35-year-old, highly manipulated, incredibly stable timeline into one that included much more inherent chaos. The number of Sweepers required to fully account for the natural variability associated with the current timeline had turned out to be wholly impractical. As such, the Ministry had no chance to regain the tight grip it once held.

While exact figures were unknown, estimates suggested the Underground had lost anywhere from 90-97% of their agents, not to mention nearly all of their technology and associated resources, in a matter of a week. The mass suicide at their Institute alone took down over 32 thousand of their people. To Gus, this last part made him sick. Sure, his job was to eliminate the Underground threat, but that mandate was not supposed to be realized in a literal sense. The enormous loss of life that unfolded in front of his eyes still kept him up at night. Worse still, none of it was necessary and should have easily been avoided. The 'unholy alliance' with Craston and his people, regrettably only exacerbated the situation. Still, in the end, Gus had done his job, and as heartless as it sounded, his superiors were more than happy with the outcome of the raid.

Gus did his best not to dwell on that gruesome past. On most days, this was possible, given the chaotic state of affairs the Underground left in their wake.

Today, however, for whatever reason, his mind was not letting him off that easy.

Standing at his half-open office door, Rick Joliet made just enough noise to get Gus' attention. "Sir, we have a confirmed report of an Underground agent at Reagan International Airport."

"Show me the visual record including the facial recognition analysis," Gus responded curtly, still feeling despondent.

Joliet paused briefly before entering the office. Proceeding cautiously, he showed Gus the surveillance video from his handheld tablet and air-swiped a report in front of his boss. Joliet highlighted a result from the analysis that suggested a 98.3 percent match to Melvin Trainer, a known Underground operative originally out of New York City.

"Last active 14 months ago, I see," Gus commented. "I assume we're tailing him. I do not want any sort of premature intervention. Let's be sure we know what he's up to and where he may lead us before making any contact. For what it's worth, I'm not convinced he's part of anything at this point. Those people lost nearly everything overnight. We've literally have seen or heard zero from them for the last eight months. We're not here to hunt anyone down. If they're no longer a threat, I simply don't care. Tail Trainer and keep me informed."

"Sir, at the moment that isn't possible," replied Joliet.

"And why is that?"

"Our surveillance notified us of the match but we couldn't get into position quickly enough to pick up the target."

"Fantastic." Gus swiped at the report before him and it vanished.

"We have alerts up throughout the DC metro area," Joliet continued, "so I'm confident the system will pick him up again. Once we have confirmation, we'll place him under surveillance."

"Sounds reasonable, Rick. Keep me posted. In the meantime, I need your help putting together a team on the ground in Santa Fe. We have a workers' rights rally in the downtown area scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. This event is likely to pull in people from neighboring states. Over 65,000 are expected to join. Unlike the situation with our Underground visitor from the past, I'm actually expecting complications to develop in New Mexico."