Chaingang

4

MARION, ILLINOIS

“How sure are you of the security elements, Dr. Norman?” the stern, faraway voice asked.

“Completely, I assure you.” Norman was writing as he conversed, being one of those individuals capable of more than one simultaneous act of logical reasoning. “Two hundred monitor units, that is to say assets, will be in the field.” Translation: two hundred armed shooters. “As you know, we have all the technology at our disposal. The coverage on the subject will be total, around the clock, across the compass. Now that the implant has been perfected, there is no way the subject can escape."

“This bug thing—whatever the implant is—it can't suddenly malfunction? The battery can't die or whatever?"

“No.” Norman stopped writing and looked at the phone in wonder. He was genuinely offended by idiocy. “The implant is guaranteed to outlast the life of the subject.” He went on, seemingly oblivious to the joke he'd made. “It's a perfect opportunity for first-generation research."

“I suppose so. I understand the need for the school, but the idea of letting a killer loose and observing him under field conditions seems ... I don't know..."

“Insane?"

“Right. Insane!"

“Sir, every revolutionary idea has appeared to be insane before it was proved. The first airplane, the first firearm, these things always seem implausible until they work. Look, if I may say so, what are the options? Our resources are not what they once were. The country is being swallowed by foreign interests. We've had to wage costly, terrible wars because of one or two madmen. Had we been able to call on expert assassination teams, we could have saved thousands of American lives. If we must sacrifice a few lives now, to save a great many—perhaps even change the destiny of our country—in the future, then that is a price we have little choice but to pay. Don't you agree?"

“In theory, one agrees. But in actual practice things go wrong. This could explode in our faces. Equipment malfunctions. Computers make errors. Human beings make mistakes. Things happen."

“All those things have been factored in. Just remember this, sir, we're dealing with an art or science that is relatively virgin territory. The subject gives us the chance to study a Bundy, a Green River Killer, a Gacey, a Son of Sam, and the Boston Strangler all wrapped up in one execution machine.

“The implant will function flawlessly. We can obtain instant recovery or—if need be—termination at any moment during the operational phase.” Norman could hear the party on the outbound end of the distant connection attempt to voice another cautionary note, and the shielded long lines hissed in disgust.

“When are you planning to do the surgery?"

“Very soon. One more test with the Alpha Group II drug, and we'll bring in the brain implant team from Walter Reed."

“Umm."

“The new drug has been remarkable so far. In fact—” he couldn't help but smile—"there's a curious side effect on the subject. It almost renders him—dare I say it—normal for brief periods following the IVs!"

“Outstanding."

“Yes,” the doctor agreed.

They'd come to him nearly a quarter century ago, when he'd been a young doctor with a brilliant future, and they'd challenged him to give them unstoppable killers. He'd put his career on the line for the mysterious agency USMACVSAUCOG, working with his phenomenal find—a subject unlike any other. Everything he'd worked for, every program he'd managed to put in place, had brought them to this point.

He countered a few more flimsy objections, helping another witless bureaucrat to rationalize the impossible and think the unthinkable: they were building a school for covert executions, and the central program would be the study of a mass murderer unchained and allowed to kill or—perhaps—be killed.

For all the man's unknowledgeable questions, he'd learned nothing of the doctor's real agenda, nor had he learned of the secret that would, in fact, control the subject when all else failed. These components would remain as guarded as the equipment that carried and secured their conversation: the OMEGASTAR mobile tracker, which was the electrolink between the COMSEC and NEWTON SECURE systems. These were Norman's trump cards.

“We're good to go,” the man finally said, into the ultracomplex guts of the Omni DF MEGAplex Secure Tranceiver Auto-lock locator Relay unit and movement-detection monitor. Diode detectors buzzed, freq-counters purred, high-gain preamped scanners searched, mag-field finders countersurveilled, feedback loops engaged, timesharing codes interfaced, spectrum analyzers pulsed, servomechanisms clicked, microcircuitry fed, diffused, flattened, bled into parallel bug-jammers that probed and pried and silently shrieked through subaudible white-noise generators and whose battery would not die!

He inserted a patient history form into his typewriter and typed up the brief notes on a subject always near and dear to his heart:

CONFIDENTIAL AND PRIVILEGED INFORMATION

NOT FOR DISCLOSURE TO INMATE

FACILITY: Marion

PATIENT'S D.O.B.: estimate 1950

PATIENT'S NAME: Bunkowski, Daniel Edward Flowers

REGISTER NUMBER: none/see rider

RACE: Cauc.

SEX: M

HEIGHT: 6 feet 7 1/2 inches

WEIGHT: 475

HAIR COLOR: Brn

FACIAL SCARS OR DEFORMITIES: wounds. see GSW diagram for adult head

BODILY SCARS OR DEFORMITIES: see childhood burns, wounds

HISTORY OF ALLERGIC REACTIONS: none

HEMOPHILIA CHRONIC ALCOHOLISM DRUG ABUSE DETAILS: psychotrophic drugs incl Haldol, Thorazine, Sinequan et al. Have been ineffective in trtmnt of antisocial, aggressive acts. Drugs such as sod. Pent., Amytal, the paradyzines et al ineffective (hypnosis therapy: See notes re Alpha Group II.)

FUNCTIONAL IMPAIRMENT: nonapplicable/morbid obesity

MENTAL DYSFUNCTION: schizophrenia, paranoia

EMOTIONAL DISORDER: psychoses not resp. to med. trtmnt.

DETAILS: see rider note that patient is graded Level 7/Violent

CURRENT PROBLEM UNDER EVALUATION: require brain implant of loc. device

SERVICE: Neurosurgery—Walter Reed

CLINICAL RECOMMENDATIONS AND FINDINGS: require implant be undetectable by patient

NOT FOR DISCLOSURE TO INMATE

CHIEF MEDICAL

ADMINISTRATOR AUTHORIZATION: Norman

PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN: same

RECOMMENDED PATIENT STATUS (CHECK)

OUTPATIENT X INPATIENT

NATIONAL SECURITY RIDER

The following is SECRET AND SENSITIVE and is not to be disclosed, divulged, copied, or disseminated:

A prefrontal lobotomy is not indicated although patient cannot be controlled by drugs, due to field requirements. Patient is rendered submissive and potentially nonaggressive by IV admin. of ALPHA GROUP II. A locator implant (laser) is needed.

See attached X RAYS, LAB WORK, CULTURES, CHILDHOOD PATIENT HISTORY, SPECIAL EQUIPMENT REPORT (on implant device)

DISCLOSURE OF ANY OR ALL PARTS OF THIS DOCUMENT IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED BY THE NATIONAL SECURITY ACT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.