Clandestine Operative

 Hello All:

Happy Friday! I'm short on time today, so not much of an update. Here's a short story about those unsung heroes, those clandestine operatives who we rarely hear about.

 

Clandestine Operative

He appeared as any normal passenger that would board a commuter train on a Friday morning. Bundled up in a coat and wearing a pair of earmuffs, he struggled to stay warm just like everyone else. But where-as the morning crowd head for the city for their jobs, school or even entertainment; Emmett was on a secret mission.

The mission was so secret, in fact, that even Emmett was unclear of who the people were that he worked for. None of them ever established contact with Emmett directly. Even still, not one telephone call, email, text message or letter in the mailbox had ever been used to recruit Emmett as a regular operative of these secret missions. Emmett assumed their communication was done by telepathic means. And it wasn't words directly transmitted into his mind. Rather, it was sort of conveyed through feelings, images or emerging concepts from the subconscious mind. That's how secret this bureau was. They could never be discovered, and there could never be a trace of their location.

The recent series of missions were stressful and somewhat traumatic. Emmett swallowed his fear and took a deep breath in and out after taking a seat on the train. He unbuttoned his coat, removed the earmuffs and then pulled out some cash from his inner coat pocket. It would only be a matter of minutes before the conductor made his way through the car for tickets.

But not a minute could be wasted in following the secret mission! Emmett next removed the Android smart phone from another pocket and opened the screen. It looked like any ordinary smart phone that the average person would own and operate. And this was a good thing for purposes of remaining inconspicuous; for the phone contained top secret, high tech apps that were to be used by clandestine operatives like Emmett; apps such as the one he now opened that appeared to be nothing more than Google Earth. If you've ever used this handy feature on your phone while out on the roads or walking unfamiliar neighborhoods, you would certainly agree how efficiently Google Earth serves as a navigation tool. And just like you and I would do, Emmett pressed the button for GPS locating.

Immediately, Google Earth zeroed in on Emmett's location and actually tracked him as the commuter train moved along the railway. But this simple, everyday software was only a disguise. Everyone’s phone, after all, can do this. What Emmett did next, however, is nothing short of remarkable! He simply concentrated on his moving location point which mentally seized control of the train. Yes, the secret app had been uploaded onto the phone so that Emmett could control and guide the commuter train to its destination with his own mind!

It was an urgent spur-of-the-moment mission that was given to Emmett that morning. Recently there had been a series of failed attempts of hijacking the train by enemy terrorists—terrorists who possessed similar technology that enabled them to mentally control commuter trains. Assuming they were suicidal; if ever successful, they could crash the train and ruin innocent lives! Can you see why these missions were so stressful for Emmett? Emmett was taking his life into his own hands. And there was no guarantee that his technology was more advanced than theirs—enough to disable their attempts and continue safely guiding the train to its destination.

Emmett stared at the tiny, moving triangle on the Google Earth satellite image of the railroad tracks. This initial step was sort of a diagnostic check. Was he really in control? To verify this, he zoomed out of the location just enough to see the next train stop. He concentrated on the train reaching this point. Sure enough, the train stopped at the intended place, and Emmett safely concluded that it was under his mental control.

But what was this? Upon glancing out the window, Emmett made momentary eye contact with a passenger who was boarding; a male with dark hair and dark eyes who wore a dark, business-like wool coat. He had a disturbing air about him, something that immediately alarmed Emmett. Apparently, this was the enemy terrorist who had intentions of crashing the train that morning. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary in the way that this boarding passenger made eye contact. Rather it was the split-second micro-expression that he attempted to hide. But Emmett saw it. Emmett knew that the boarding passenger was aware of who he was and his purpose for the morning. Emmett was the last person the terrorist wanted to see. For you see, he was the opposition that would ultimately foil the sinister operation.

Emmett watched as the terrorist took the stairs to the upper level. Maybe he believed this to be a safe location to unleash the morning's disaster as this would be a considerable distance away from the opposition. Hopefully the secret technology on Emmett's Android smart phone was advanced enough to defeat this maneuver!

It was now a battle of wits—spy vs. spy. Emmett had to do something fast to ensure he remained in control of the train. As he stared at the moving triangle on Google Earth, he concentrated on jolting the train ever-so-slightly off balance, just enough to indicate continued control while at the same time not alarming any of the passengers. As the train reached the next station, there was something in the way that the brakes were applied so that the stop was harsh, almost enough to throw people off balance who might be standing up. In fact, a couple voices could be heard some seats in the distance.

"Whoa!"

"Awe, come-on! I spilled my coffee!"

Emmett smiled to himself. He was still in control of the train. The terrorist had yet to unleash his disaster, and momentarily glanced down from the upper level at Emmett in hatred.

The train took off from the station and continued its way en route to the city. All the while, Emmett continued to guide it with his mind. Suddenly, he heard a loud voice.

"Sir?"

Emmett quickly glanced up.

It was the train conductor wearing a very, concerned look. Apparently he surmised that Emmett was the one who seized control of the train. Losing mechanical control of any sort of mass transit can be a frightening ordeal for transportation personnel. The only thing that can be done in such a moment is locate the individual responsible, and confirm that no harm will be done. But with no solid evidence, all the conductor could do in that moment was say, "Ticket? Do you have a ticket, Sir?"

"Oh, sorry about that." answered Emmett. He had to act quickly! In this brief moment, the terrorist on the upper level could dispel Emmett's mental control from the train and cause all sorts of damage with his own.

"Round trip, please." requested Emmett.

The conductor reluctantly took Emmett's money while maintaining a resentful and mistrusting look. It was almost as-if he took the situation of Emmett's mentally controlling the train as personal. If Emmett didn't know any better, the conductor had some sort of prejudice against him and believed that Emmett should not have been the one empowered to carry out the morning's secret mission of defense. Without further words, he punched the whole in the ticket for the inbound trip and then gave both to Emmett.

With the conductor moved on to another seat, Emmett immediately went to work and continued concentrating on the moving triangle on Google Earth. Did he still have control? Did the terrorist succeed in mentally hijacking the train? Emmett glanced up to the top level and studied the terrorist who quickly looked down with a continued bitter and hateful look. Apparently he was frustrated and had yet to succeed in mentally hijacking the train.

Relieved, Emmett momentarily looked over to an attractive, young woman that was only two seats away. She was so pretty, and definitely someone Emmett wished to get better acquainted with. How he wished to approach her seat and reveal the screen of his Android smart phone. "See this? See the moving triangle on the train tracks? That's us. I'm actually controlling and guiding the train with my mind. I'm on a secret mission to protect you and the other passengers from an enemy terrorist who is onboard and attempting to hijack the train."

The attractive, young woman would be so impressed and see Emmett as her hero. All women adore heroes and immediately fall in love with them. She would be all his after learning this.

But the mission for that morning was to remain a secret. How sad that Emmett could not approach the woman with this exciting information. Perhaps if he carefully approached her and casually mentioned, "Just so you know; if something bad ever happened on this train, I would be sure to rescue you and protect you from harm.” Her imagination would briefly wander and suddenly realize that Emmett is a clandestine operative on a secret mission to protect the train.

But that's how the mysterious people who direct Emmett go about communicating with him. They appear in the faces of other people; force Emmett to zero in on certain phrases or sentences, and understand situations or plans through what is implied. It’s an encrypted language, and Emmett knows all too well that implying things is as good as directly stating them. He could get himself into big trouble for implying this to the woman; maybe even endure unpleasant punishment from the mysterious people. It was best to forget about impressing the attractive, young woman.

The train conductor walked past Emmett in the center aisle and provided another resentful and mistrusting look. What was his problem? Couldn't he just put his prejudice aside, relax and take comfort in knowing that Emmett would safely guide the train to its destination? There was a terrorist onboard. But thanks to someone like Emmett; the diabolical, enemy scheme would be foiled.

The train conductor needed to be taught a little lesson. He needed to understand what Emmett was capable of. As Emmett continued to guide the train along the tracks via his secret Google Earth app, he was tempted to cause a severe jolt to the train—enough to cause the conductor to fall down. Emmett would rush over and help the conductor to his feet, "Are you okay?" But Emmett would also provide a look of warning to be a bit more respectful. Maybe then the conductor would change his attitude.

Emmett thought of doing this on a few of his missions. Sometimes people triggered an overwhelming amount of rage just in the way that they looked at him. Fools; didn't they realize that he could cause so much damage on that train? With the power in his hands, Emmett could mentally guide the train over the tracks and onto—perhaps—a highway, below, where it would smash cars and kill hundreds of innocent train passengers and motorists. But Emmett would never do that. That wouldn't be right. He had to be responsible and use the secret technology to protect the innocent lives onboard that train.

Suddenly, as the train traveled under a series of electric towers and transformers, Emmett's Android smart phone lost connection with Google Earth! This was not good! This might have been the opportunity that the terrorist had been waiting for. Only a few seconds would be required for the terrorist to cause damage as he momentarily gained mental control of the train. Emmett needed to act quickly!

He closed the app and opened it again. But the phone displayed the disheartening message, "Waiting for network... Unable to establish connection with Google Earth"

"Damn-it!" yelled Emmett.

The attractive, young woman glanced up in return. Who would be her hero, now? She and everyone else were at risk of dying in terrible tragedy!"

Emmett looked up to the second level and was horrified to see the terrorist busily working on his laptop. Apparently he seized control of the train and was doing something to either prevent Emmett from regaining mental control, or even preparing to finally crash the train.

Without a second to lose, Emmett darted out of his seat and ran for the stairs. While ascending to the second level, he attempted to open the Google Earth app one, more time. It was either regain mental control of that train, now, or physically disable the terrorist by snapping his neck or simply knocking him out.

Upon reaching the second level, the train jolted and shook while following a curve on the tracks. It was happening! The terrorist was about to succeed in causing a disaster! But by some miracle, Emmett's Android smart phone finally restored contact with Google Earth. Only a few feet away from the enemy, Emmett opted to simply locate himself on Google Earth and then guide the train to safety. "That's it... that's it... good... just move forward..." Emmett finally regained mental control of the train.

The terrorist turned his head to face Emmett and provided an incredibly bitter, scornful look. What was Emmett doing there? Even more, how did he succeed in regaining control of the train?

"Nobody can know!" said a mysterious voice that came out of nowhere in Emmett's mind. It was the people who directed Emmett to carry out these missions that now urged him to walk away from the terrorist as-if nothing ever happened. Preventing a scene from happening was best if the mission was to remain a secret.

Emmett did as ordered and descended back to the lower level.

"Is everything okay, Sir?" It was the conductor who appeared at the bottom of the stairs and looked as-if ready to wrestle with Emmett, maybe even throw him off the train.

"No, everything is fine."

"Good! Please get back to your seat! If you need to use the lavatory, it's at the opposite end of the car."

How Emmett despised the conductor's attitude and lack of respect. Was that any way to speak to someone who just saved hundreds of lives? But Emmett maintained his dignity and calmly returned to his seat while continuing to look at the Google Earth screen. The train was back in his control and only a few miles from safely reaching the destination.

Emmett momentarily glanced up towards the terrorist who busily worked on his laptop and appeared to desperately attempt everything in his power to mentally hijack the train a second time. But he would never succeed. Emmett had control and continued to safely guide the train to its final destination. There would only be another couple minutes of travel before the ride was over.

Feeling proud of himself, Emmett glanced over to the attractive, young woman and realized that he truly was her hero. He saved her life as promised. He thwarted a horrible terrorist attack from happening that morning.  But, sadly, no one would ever know. That's the life of a clandestine operative. They are to remain silent heroes who never dare claim an act of heroism.