A GLIMPSE INTO DARKNESS

Her friends had left and she was now sitting at the bar by herself. It had been a long day at work and all she wanted to do now was have a few drinks before she went home. The job was stressful and the hours were crazy, but it was the only thing that kept her going. After her divorce was made final, she had decided to work more than she used to. That ended up becoming a nightmare that she wasn't able to get rid of. Since her divorce she had been spearheading an operation to bring down the Syndicates drug trafficking ring, that in itself was just a cover for what she was really doing. Since then, there had been numerous attempts on her life and she was lucky to still be alive. The Syndicate was trying their damn best to kill her, but somehow, they were unsuccessful. 

Michelle had become paranoid, after surviving the last attempt she decided to work more from home. It gave her a chance to be around her daughter more and spend more time with her then she used to before the divorce. The only bad thing was that she had ended up learning of a secret project that the Federation had under wraps. Because of her involvement with the operation against the Syndicate she had found out about it. Apparently, the Federation was investigating the whereabouts of an Alicia Alexander who had mysteriously vanished seven months ago. Michelle had done some investigating of her own and found that Alicia's last known location was Zebulon. The Federation was looking for because of an incident with a military project called Alpha. Not long after that she had been contacted by Supreme Commander Alexander who claimed to be Alicia's mother in law. She had assigned her a task of finding out anything that she could about project Alpha and what Alicia had to do with it. Apparently, the project was so highly classified even the leader of the Federation didn’t fully know what it was about.

After that call from the supreme commander Michelle realized that this Alicia was a very big deal. She had begun a search and found that Alicia wasn't just an average person, she was a student of famed scientist Jacob Revis. Revis had been creating a super soldier program and had apparently been showing a lot of interest in Alicia. So much interest that he had requested that she graduate early for reasons not put in her file. The more she learned about Alicia the more she wanted to find her. Zebulon was the largest planet in Federation space and if you weren't careful, it could be a deadly place. It was home to many crime organizations and many rogue military corporations. Michelle had lived there for years during her marriage, but her superiors felt she could be better used on Cryot.

This investigation had been going on for months now and the deeper she got the worse the Syndicate had gotten. It was as if the Syndicate didn't want her to know something. Everyone on Cryot knew about the drug trafficking and everyone knew of the Syndicates involvement in it. It couldn't be that they wanted her dead because of the drug ring, it had to be because of her investigation on Alicia. The problem with that was why did Alicia matter to them? Her answer came when she was given a tip that the Syndicate had recruited some new assets, rumor had it that a young woman was among them. It could've been possible that Alicia had been approached by someone within the Syndicate and had been offered a job. Michelle had been debating the possibility for weeks. Why would a decorated student who was married with a daughter and about to join the military get involved with a crime organization? It was the question that had been troubling her mind all day, its why she had come to the bar in the first place.

She was very well aware that another attempt on her life was imminent and she was pretty sure it would happen soon. The Federation had provided her with additional security at her apartment building to ease her mind. Even though her daughter was also a soldier and lived with her she was still skeptical. She had found out too much in a short period of time and the Syndicate were going to do their best to eliminate her. She glanced up at the bartender and signaled her for another drink. The girl came over and brought her another of what she had been drinking all afternoon.

"How's it going today Gina?"

Gina smiled as she handed her a glass of liquor. "My day was pretty boring until I got in here."

Michelle caught a look in Gina's eyes that told her to ask more questions.

"What happened?"

Gina looked around as if someone was watching her and Michelle knew something was seriously wrong.

"Earlier there was this woman I've never seen before. She sat over there in the corner by the window." She said pointing towards the other side of the room.

"What was she doing?"

Gina looked as if she didn't want to say anything, but the look in her eyes had terrified written all over them. "She was watching you; she did a good job to not look obvious. I think she overheard your conversation about your divorce, after that she left."

Michelle thought for a moment. Usually no one had ever been caught watching her in the bar. If this woman was an assassin than that meant the Syndicate had put another hit on her. She would have to find out who she was if she going to survive another attempt on her life.

"What did she look like?"

Gina began to describe the woman in detail. "She was about your height, light brown skin, long burgundy hair and she was wearing a leather outfit. Before she left, she was on her headset talking to someone she called Celenia."

"What were they saying?"

"I'm not sure what Celenia was saying to her, but she must've been talking about you. She said that she needed all the details on someone called Alicia. Does that name mean anything to you?"

Michelle started to get up and head for the door. "If she comes back call me and let me know."

Gina nodded and went back to serving drinks to other customers.

Michelle walked out the restaurant and hailed a taxi shuttle. She got in and gave the pilot her destination. "Imperial headquarters downtown."

Whoever this woman was she was working for the Syndicate. No one ever came in the bar and watched her. Thankfully Gina had noticed and told her about it, she had to get to a computer and start tracking her down. If this woman was the assassin that she was expecting then she would have to be extra careful. She pulled out her earpiece and made a call to her daughter.

"Livia, they've put out another hit on me and someone might make their move tonight."

She heard her daughter talking to someone on the other side before she spoke. "How can you be sure of this?"

"Trust me, they've been watching me since I got off work. Whoever she is we are going to find her. I need you to connect to the spaceport's security systems and the apartment complexes."

"What am I looking for mom?"

Michelle gave her all the details as the cab docked at the base. She got out and ran as fast as she could until she got to the intelligence department. She walked past several stations until she found Livia. She was looking at a dozen different feeds from the spaceport. One of the feeds showed a woman that matched the description of who they were looking for.

"She doesn't look like an assassin mom. If you ask me, I would say she's a spy." Livia said looking at her mother.

Michelle shook her head. "She's more than a spy, she knows about my investigation on Alicia Alexander."

Livia turned and looked at her surprised. "Only a handful of people know about that and it's not even on official record. She's good whoever she is."

Michelle nodded as another woman came into view. The woman started talking to the red head about something. As the other woman turned her back Michelle's neck hairs stood up.

"Oh my God, that's impossible!" She said loudly.

Livia looked at her mother and back at the screen as she tried to figure out what was going on through her mother's mind. "What is it? Do you know her?"

"Pull up Alicia Alexander's file and bring up her last recent photo."

Livia keyed in the information and a picture of a raven-haired woman came up.

"I don't believe it! That's Alicia Alexander!" Michelle exclaimed.

Livia shook her head. "Mom have you been watching the news today?"

She shook her head. Her work had caused her to not even turn on anything except her computers at home and she was never one to watch the news.

"Alicia Alexander's body was found this afternoon in the under city on Zebulon. Her family members confirmed that it was her. Whoever this woman is she's not Alicia."

Michelle knew that her daughter wasn't lying. Livia was an intelligence officer and all her sources were credible. But something told her that this time her sources were wrong. If Alicia was dead then who was the woman in the video?

"Are you sure it was Alicia Alexander?"

Livia gave her a look she knew too well. Her daughter knew what she was talking about, but something's just didn't add up for her. If Alicia was dead then her file would say and it didn't. Her file still read M.I.A and Michelle knew that she would've received a call from the Supreme Commander by now.

"Show me the video from the news earlier when they said her body had been found."

Livia pulled up the new video and they watched it together.

"It's been a very disturbing morning for many citizens here in Zebulon. Approximately at 0600 this morning the body of Intelligence Agent Alicia Alexander was found in the under city.  No official word on the cause of death, but early reports are that she was murdered. Zebulon's under city is well known for its violent gangs and most notably the Syndicate."

"We've had no chance to speak with any of Alicia's family members today, but they are expected to be at the funeral which is being held tomorrow morning at Central Federation Command in uptown Della City here on Zebulon."

"She's not dead, someone would have said something. I smell a cover up here and I refuse to get caught in the middle of it." Michelle said.

Livia glanced around before she spoke. "Mom, you're not thinking what I think you are?"

"That Alicia Alexander wasn't killed, that they are doing this because something else unexplainable happened to her? Yes I am."

Livia looked back at the video of the red head and the Alicia look alike. "You think she joined the Syndicate and that's why they've put a hit out on you to make sure no one finds out?"

"Yes and no. I believe that Alicia joined the Syndicate, for what reasons I don't know and I believe that the Syndicate is trying to play upon everyone's intelligence by faking her death. Think about it Liv, Alicia disappeared seven months ago, six months ago the Syndicate had recruited new assets and reports are a female was among them. Today at the spaceport a woman identical to Alicia is on our monitor talking to a woman who was watching me at the bar."

Livia nodded her head as she saw were her mother was going with this. "If your right than Alicia is a traitor and is still alive. But that also would mean that someone in the Federation knows something we don't."

Michelle looked at the Alicia look alike once more noticing the brown and blonde hair. The woman she was looking at suddenly seemed strikingly different from the photo they had of Alicia. Michelle tried to come up with a answer for all this but couldn't.

"How much do you know about the Syndicates recruitment methods?" She asked Livia.

Livia looked at her mother skeptically and exhaled as if she couldn't fathom what her mother was thinking.

"Most of the time they find ex-soldiers and pilots from the Federation who have lost faith in the government. Others are usually just walk ins from local gangs. I've heard in some cases recruits are abducted and never seen or heard from again."

The gears in Michelle's head began to turn as she processed what Livia told her. "Do they drug those who are abducted?"

Livia quickly nodded. "Yes, their given a mild dosage of a serum that's supposed to erase the awareness of past life events. They're then given a new name, back-story and their appearance is altered so no one will recognize them. You think that's what happened to Alicia?"

"It would explain everything if that's what did happen." Michelle replied as she turned to leave.

Livia got up and followed her mother. "Where are you going?"

"I have to find a way to stop her. I have to tell her who she is, there's a lot more about her that I know than anyone else knows."

Livia looked at her mother strangely as she tried to figure out what she meant. "You mean Project Alpha?"

Michelle looked around before she slowly nodded. "I want you to assemble a unit of special ops troops and have them on standby. If this doesn't end well then I want her to be captured and brought in."

Livia threw her hands up in annoyance. "Mom, how am I supposed to get a team together for a top-secret mission like this. I can't just say who we're about to try and apprehend, it will throw up all kinds of red flags."

Michelle turned around pulled her daughter close to her and responded in a low tone. "Contact Supreme Commander Alexander and report everything that we've found out. Tell her that Alicia is alive and is currently working for the Syndicate. Get the strike team assembled and tell them that they are to bring in Alicia alive. There's too much riding on this for us to fail now."

Livia watched her mother leave and turned around back to her desk to do as she was instructed.