Sheila’s New Project

Chapter 3

MC, MD, FD, MF, FF

     John Reed was a satisfied man. So far, not only had his latest project been an unqualified success, it was weeks, if not months ahead of schedule. There was a knock at the door and Dave Miller entered his office, clearly a man more than a little intimidated by his surroundings. “Thank you Miller. So she begins work on Monday?” Miller, clearly relieved to be asked a question he could answer without any difficulty, answered enthusiastically “Yes Sir! Here are her test results and profile file.” “Excellent Miller, she’ll make a fine assistant.” Miller was puzzled as to why such a senior member of management would take an active interest in such a simple thing as hiring a low level filing assistant. Still, he knew all personnel decisions were made in this office and if Mr. Reed wanted to micro-manage things to that degree, what difference did it make. “That’ll be all for now Miller, thank you.”

     He picked up the phone and dialed. “Monica Hood, how may I help you sir?” “Ms. Hood, I just wanted to convey to you my personal gratitude for your handling of the Johnson hiring. Sheila has been a family friend for years and I’m grateful to you for helping with her placement with us.” Monica Hood smiled broadly. She knew that establishing a good rapport with senior management was key to breaking through the glass ceiling in the business world. There were few enough opportunities to make yourself useful to the right people. Monica was ambitious, and she understood what was at stake when John Reed asked her for help. All she had to do is hold a low level filing position open until the right resume came in the door. That and keep telling that moron Miller he’d get his assistant, he just had to be patient. “You’re welcome Mr. Reed, it was nothing. I was only too happy to help.” “I have another favor to ask, Ms. Hood.” said Reed, absently twirling a pencil in his hand. “I’d like you to represent our division at the regional meeting in Key West...three weeks from now. Don’t worry about making a presentation, your attendance is really all I need. I won’t be able to go myself, so I need someone I can trust. Go down a couple of days early and relax. “I’d be honored sir, I don’t know how to say thank you for this opportunity. I won’t let you down.” “I’m sure you won’t Monica...may I call you Monica?” Monica Hood was almost jumping for joy. “Monica is fine sir.” “Have a nice trip, Monica.” John Reed said, and hung up.

     John Reed read Sheila Johnson’s profile with interest. He compared it to the profile of Michelle Freeman’s “Catalyst” file. He was making notes, checking over certain areas when there was a knock at his office door. “Just a minute,” he said, closing the files on the desk and turning his notes over. “Come in.” Bob Thomas entered the office, looking a little nervous. “Marx sent me a memo,” he began, only to have Reed cut him off. “Have a seat Bob, and I’ll bring you up to speed. As predicted,

Michelle, or should I say “Sheila” has come for her revenge.” “What do you plan to do about it Reed?” “Well, I believe the situation is well in hand. Having her profile has thus far allowed us to be one step ahead of her every move.” “She’s not to be underestimated John” said Bob, his concern unabated by Reed’s assurances.

     “Ok Bob, I’ll lay out the facts for you and let you make up your own mind about where we stand. First, the cover stories related to the fates of Reynolds, Wallace and Howard are holding up. She believe that CIA hit squads have killed them. Her profile indicated she would react to the threat she perceived by going underground and assuming a new identity. It also correctly predicted where she would flee, and that she would be consumed by the desire to avenge her friends and would attempt to infiltrate our operation to destroy it from within.”

     Bob shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “With what she knows, why should we risk allowing her to be this close?” “That’s a good question Bob,” said John Reed, “I am very aware of the possible risks. There is a great deal to be gained and I believe the risk is considerably less than you might think. First, she is working alone and she has taken great pains to be anonymous. Michelle Freeman has been “dead” for six months now, as far as civil authority is concerned. Her new identity “Sheila Johnson” has no friends, no family and no ties to any community. If she were to disappear, nobody would notice or care.” Bob Thomas looked pensive. He listened carefully, his curiosity growing. “How do you know what her next move will be?” he said.

     “She’s got limited resources, limited information and her every move is monitored.” “What if she tries using “Catalyst” technology against us John?” said Bob, his concern still acute. “Her profile predicts that she will indeed attempt to use “Catalyst” against us. In fact, we’re counting on it.” “I can’t believe you’re not concerned about this John? What could we possibly gain that would be worth such a risk?” There was growing alarm in Bob Thomas’ demeanor. John Reed noted it with some amusement. “Calm down Bob, let me continue.”

     “On the technical side,” Reed began, “she’s been out of the loop now for over 6 months. She never had access to anything more advanced than the MK I emitters for brain wave stimulation. She has considerable skill with pheremone manipulation, but with Level 5 air handling precautions in place, that presents no serious threat to us. The MK Is were wonderful machines, but they lack the power of the current MK IIIs, and the wavelength they operate on is easily jammed. Countermeasures are already in place and we’re ready for her.

    “But why even risk it? “ said Bob, more relaxed, but still concerned. “Well Bob, it’s pretty simple. We’re concerned about the possibility that an enemy might attempt an attack using MK I level technology. We know the Russians have similar, though somewhat less sophisticated equipment. A great deal might be learned from a real attack using MK I level technologies that could be studied and this situation presents a unique opportunity for a real world test.” “But you said that we’re already jamming the MK I frequencies. What do we learn from that?” said Bob, less concerned now, but more than a little confused.

     “Good question Bob” said John Reed, reminding himself that the man sitting across from him was his co-worker, not an underling. “I said we’re protected, meaning the levels of the organization that have any real knowledge of what our true purpose is. The office Michelle... I mean Sheila has access to is unprotected. There are no countermeasures or air filtration there to interfere with “Catalyst’ level assault. We have installed the capability to monitor and sample air in real time. The MK I emitters output can be monitored and recorded. When she begins her attack, we’ll have real time monitoring of it. We’ve also initiated remote video and audio surveillance of all the likely subjects of her attack, so we have a baseline behavior database on her likely targets and thus the ability to gauge the effectiveness of her attack. In short, we’ll learn more about such attacks than we ever could from a test or an exercise. And all with very little at risk.” “What makes you think she’ll go after anyone in that office? They didn’t have anything to do with what happened and they’ve got no access to the kind of information she’ll be looking for.” John Reed laughed and slapped his leg. “Of course they’re innocent and they’ve nothing real to betray. You know that and I know that and they know nothing. But our Sheila doesn’t know dick. She’ll be surreptitiously reading every file she can get her hands on looking for our footprints, so to speak. It will be a simple matter to create a memo or two implicating Miller, Hood and that other woman...Kelly, I think her name is. That should be adequate to validate our data capture and keep the operation manageable logistically.”

     “So what happens to them?” “To who?” said Reed. “To those guinea pigs she’ll unleash “Catalyst” on.” said Bob Thomas. “Do I detect a trace of ethics there Bob?” asked Reed, more than a little sarcastically. “It’s just that they’re our people. Don’t you think they deserve better?” “Bob, these people are peons. Look at the bigger picture. Their sacrifice will never be forgotten. Their contribution will be priceless. Does it really matter that they’re completely clueless? You and I will know they’re heros. Besides, Sheila’s profile says she highly ethical. I imagine she’ll manipulate these people carefully, perhaps even lovingly. She really thought the technology we were developing would be used to help people be all they can be.”

     “I think you might be underestimating her. What if she innovates and goes beyond MK I level technology?” “I understand your concern Bob...I’ve saved the best for last.” said Reed, clearly relishing the moment. “As I said before, we’ve had her under surveillance the entire time since she went underground. We had a GPS transmitter on her car and she followed her predicted escape route almost perfectly. Once she stopped moving around and settled down, we positioned Mark III emitters in her apartment and her car. She’s been continuously manipulated now for over 5 months. It helped us that she was already in the mind set of assuming a new identity. We were able to give that new identity a shove in a direction that should make her less of a threat.”

     “What about her new identity makes her less of a threat?” asked a now fascinated Bob Thomas. While he always understood the potential for the technology, he had very little real experience with it’s operational use. “Does this answer your question” said John, handing Bob a photograph of Sheila. “Who is this?” he asked, looking at the voluptuous woman’s striking photograph. “Don’t you recognize Michelle?” asked John, laughing. “You worked with that woman for 3 years on a daily basis.” Bob was stunned. “My God...look at her!” “Look at her indeed. I’m very proud of her. I feel like an artist creating a true work of art.” said Reed, with genuine pride.

     “My God, how...” began Bob, holding the photo, staring at it. “As I said, she’s been manipulated now for 5 solid months. Her lifestyle certainly contributed to the effectiveness of the emitters. Since she was in hiding, she didn’t go out much. She received high saturation levels of the modified brain waves since she was rarely outside the emitters’ range. She was alone the entire time, with nobody to warn her of her changing mental state. And she had the genuine motivation to assume a new identity. Her profile told us how to proceed and bring out the elements of her core personality she suppressed most forcefully. And the rest was actually her doing, the hard work, diet and exercise. It became what she lived for and she honestly had very little time or energy left for technical innovation.”

     “But what about the tits, how did you manage that?” Bob said, clearly amazed. “As I said before, we gave her a mental shove in that direction. Her profile showed she had secretly envied women with large breasts and since she was reinventing herself, it must’ve seemed like a natural extension of her own desires. She planned all along to infiltrate our ranks and you can’t deny she bears little resemblance to the woman she was. And the surgery afforded us an opportunity to introduce the new hormone manipulation techniques we’ve been working on.”

     “You got to the surgeon?” said Bob, amazed yet again. “He had done contract work with us for years.” said John Reed , playing with his pencil. “How did you know she’d go to him? There must have been a half dozen others she could have chosen.” Reed now took on the tone of a teacher lecturing a student a little slow on the uptake. “It’s pretty simple Bob,” he began, “once you have a good profile to work from, you can predict with a high degree of certainty the choices they will make.

In this case, I knew Sheila would do her homework . I made sure that the public records she could access showed that Dr. Lemone was far and away the most qualified.”

     “Once that was done, it was a simple matter to tell the good doctor to include the special implants while he did what Sheila herself wanted done. The time-released drugs are intended to help her along in her transformation. One will greatly increase her libido and the other two lower inhibitions and interfere with her ability to deal with complex concepts. Within a few months, she won’t be threat to any of us, that much is certain. And although she came up with many of the technical innovations involving pheremones, she’ll have no memory of it. The one thing I can guarantee is she’ll have other things to occupy her mind...and body by then.”