CODE X:Episode 1 by M.R. Vallone Page A

week.”
    “Spoken like the true, kick ass, killing
bitch you are. You think Jenna or Eddie’s got a lead for us
yet?”
    “When Eddie gets back today, we’ll call
Jenna...Mr. Candy Ass.”
    She sprints ahead at a full run, leaving him
behind.
    Parks smiles, kicks his legs into high gear.
Doing the male thing, he begins to leave Biggins behind. No matter
how hard she tries to match his power strides, he always flirts
ahead with his oversized frame and muscles. He mercilessly taunts
her with his physical actions.
    She’s pissed! Losing kills her. He drops
back into low gear to match her pace. Smiles -- Then backpedals
around her, like she did to him so long ago.
    “You been crowing like the Queen Hen so
long, I just thought I’d remind you...who’s the Rooster?”
     
    They’re inside the command tent at night.
There’s an eerie computer glow to the setting.
    Eddie, “Go Biggins. The lines secure.”
    “Jenna, find anything?”
    Inside Jenna’s apartment she sits at her
desk with her phone hooked up to an identical voice scrambler.
    “Bad news Carla. The government denies
existence of any hidden base. Congress did divert funds from the
military to NSA behind closed doors when the new congress took
control. But, the session was behind closed doors and the funding
was classified top secret. Alomet research is a shadow company.
That’s my best guess where they went.”
    Parks grabs the phone from Biggins, “Any
news on Vicki?”
    “Zero. Like she disappeared off the planet.
I had some government spooks call on me here at home the other
night. They told me to lay off or I’d go straight to jail. Somebody
is raising you to the level of a national security emergency, all
out full press to silence you, and me. It really stinks. The more
it stinks, the better I like finding the body.”
    Biggins grabs the phone back from Parks.
“How are my kids?”
    “They’re doing fine Carla. I sent a cop
friend over asking them where you were. They wouldn’t say a
word…”
    Alomet Security Center looks like it’s out
of “Mission Impossible.” The master control center has four techs
monitoring a wall of twenty monitors. Three wall screens show Jenna
in her living room from different angles. Henry smiles, paces
around behind the tech that controls her cameras. Jenna’s voice
echoes throughout:
    “…Oh, watch CNN’s Wolf Blitzer tonight.
You’ll find a very interesting face at a Denver fund raiser for
Senator Concannon...Bye.”
    Henry grabs the tech and spins him around
toward him, “Carla...run that name on all of Dr. Collins known
friends.” He shouts to the room, “Did anyone get a line on where
they are?”
    A tech at the far end of the room answers,
“We were able to trace it into a remote area of Mexico.
Guerrilla-Mercenary territory. Don’t worry Henry. Give us a few
hours, and I’ll find the bastard.”
    The tech Henry grabbed turns to him, “Carla
Biggins just came up. Three kids, single white female, best friends
with Dr. Collins since the first grade, and a war hero.”
    “Good job. Mexico will owe us one for
cleaning out a merc camp.”
    Later, back in the command center, Eddie
goes to his TV and switches it to CNN. “Here it is. Love my little
dishes.”
    Concannon’s finished a speech. Wolf Blitzer
narrates as a TV camera moves to a close up on Concannon. His
supporters on stage surround the Senator. They mill around hoping
to congratulate him personally and he savors every minute of it by
working the crowd.
    Wolf Blitzer describes the scene as it plays
out, “Can anyone stop Senator Concannon’s Blitzkrieg in his fourth
try for the Presidency? He leads by 60 points two months before the
first primary, facing only two token opponents. The polls for the
country have him leading by 40 points over the President with just
12 months before the country elects our next president. He’s going
to have a very happy Christmas with, for right now, a lock on
stopping the President in his bid to get