It was an autumn night on a Sunday evening and no one was around in the quiet leafy suburb of south Liverpool. The rain was falling in short bursts of drizzle, dripping softly down from the trees.
A short way from Danny’s home stood a large blue hi-topped van in the car park of the Territorial Army training centre. The trees from the nearby churchyard overhung the car park obscuring the van from view. The van itself was a brand new silver Mercedes with a sloping front. It looked as though it could outrun a small sports car. Hidden in the upper cavity of the van was a mass of gadgetry, mainly satellite equipment.
Inside the van were two men in military uniform poring over a computer screen. The regular officer knew the other man only by his nickname, 'The Leader'. This man was one of those people with no distinguishing features who somehow still managed to always look menacing. He had dark blonde hair a little spiky with gel, was clean shaven and well built. He looked like he worked out. The Leader's light blue eyes were just a little too fixed. The officer thought he didn't blink enough. He wondered if his pupils were fixed due to drugs, perhaps steroids given his muscular bulk. The Leader somehow sensed the officer was thinking about him, as out of the blue, the Leader fixed him with a slightly manic, slightly threatening grin. The officer decided that this was one seriously unhinged man. He wasn’t happy being involved with a so-called black op. But someone with extreme mathematical sharpness was needed at short notice.
‘Okay,’ growled the Leader in his harsh, nasal, London accent, ‘Fire up the sequence.’
The officer typed in a number of codes.
‘NOW!’
The officer hit the enter key. The roof panel of the van slid open to reveal an umbrella device. This device gracefully folded outwards. The umbrella then flipped inside out to become a large white dish. From the middle of the dish a four-foot long white tube a few inches across telescoped outwards toward the sky.
Both men watched the screen. It was a mass of whirling colours. It didn’t make any sense to the officer. The patterns were hypnotic and danced before his eyes. Their movements seemed to anticipate his thoughts.
The Leader suddenly jabbed his right middle finger at a blob slowly traversing the screen. ‘There they are! Time to flush me some scum. You’re not going to get away this time,’ he hissed menacingly.
On his lap the Leader held what looked like a gun. It was covered in symbols that glowed and moved. A wire connected the gun to the dish and tube on the roof of the van. The man moved his hands over the figures on the gun without touching it. This seemed to change their position and shape.
At last, he aimed the gun at the screen and squeezed the trigger hard. Instead of anything coming out the gun it appeared to be sucking clouds of swirling energy into itself from the screen. Soon the gun and the Leader were showered in a storm of incandescent plasmatic blue. Yellow sparks flew off from the glowing blue cloud. The officer was frightened but he didn't say anything or move. He was too well trained to give away any sign of fear. Minutes passed and the energy field died down.
The Leader reconfigured the gun and took aim once more. By tapping on the touch sensitive screen the man homed in on a yellow glowing figure. As the screen enlarged it became clear that it was the outline of a large golden-coloured frog. The officer looked away. Somehow he knew that the less he saw, the less he understood the more likely he might get things back to normal. Being so gifted at maths had turned out to be a serious handicap. This assignment could make him a liability. A gargled phlegm-coated scream issued from the screen. The Leader smiled,
‘Got ya you scum! Come home to daddy, you nasty little…’ The Leader nearly said, 'mind-entity,' but managed to restrain himself at the last minute. The officer might have to quietly disappear at the end of this mission. Still, there’s no point telling him stuff he doesn't need to know. He had wasted five good men just in that strange nature realm. Although maybe they were still there, running around on all fours, barking and scavenging like animals. As far as being human was concerned they were as good as dead. The agency had no plans to retrieve them. The Leader didn't care. He just wanted to avoid a reputation for not getting the job done.
A mobile phone strewn on the floor at the back of the van started to ring.
‘Pass me that,’ barked the Leader with one hand outspread. The officer picked up the phone. It looked ordinary enough but he couldn't help noticing it had only three buttons. One marked 'A', one marked 'E' and one marked 'U'. The button marked 'A' was flashing impatiently. The officer passed the phone over. The Leader jabbed at the button and held the phone to his ear.
‘I hope you didn't mess that up,’ said Alistair, head of the powerful and mysterious agency that gave the Leader his orders.
‘I've powered them down. He's got the material. We’ve captured the entity.’ replied the Leader curtly.
‘Good,’ said Alistair, his voice sounded distant. ‘I'd hate for things to mess up again – not now we’ve got so far. I've lost track of how many times we've rewritten our plans,' he paused, 'Though, “The Leader” always delivers so they say.’ Alistair’s voice dripped with venom.
The Leader didn't like Alistair, or his warped sense of humour. Besides, he had never failed before. He might have come off worse when he followed those two disabled lunatics into that strange realm - but he was still here and still fighting.
‘So, how’s the non-human entity then?’ enquired Alistair, referring to Golf. Alistair was using his posh, fake-friendly tone, which he knew the Leader absolutely hated.
‘It’s alive. What else do you wanna know?’
‘Be nice to him. "The power that is" needs him on form so try not to take out your considerable talents on it. Find some other outlet. Or we might have to find an outlet for you.’
‘Is that all?’
The line went dead. Alistair knew not to waste niceties on the Leader.
The Leader opened a hatch door in the floor of the van. Inside the black leather-lined cavity was a small transparent box containing what appeared to be a 6-inch diamond. The leader placed the nozzle of the gun to the top of the diamond box and squeezed the trigger. A wet, screaming sound could be heard for a moment.
The Leader picked up the box and held it close to his face. Inside the diamond, some three inches tall was a swirling yellow, frog-like mass. It seemed to be venomously angry. The leader tapped the box hard and shook it a little. He smiled broadly at its inhabitant and placed it back.
He felt a cold anger rising in his chest. He yearned just to smash the transparent container and destroy its occupant. A metallic, non-human voice inside his head harshly said 'No'. He controlled himself.
The officer noticed none of these events. He was intently staring out of the front windscreen busy studying the overhanging trees. He itched to take a look.