Читать книгу The Straw Men 3-Book Thriller Collection: The Straw Men, The Lonely Dead, Blood of Angels - Michael Marshall - Страница 34

We checked into the Holiday Inn and I showered and took five as I waited for Bobby. The room was clean and fresh and reassuring. I had a big pot of coffee on hand, delivered by someone in a nice white uniform and an off-the-rack smile, which is usually the best type. I don’t have the Cheers gene. I’m quite happy with people not knowing my name.

I wished I still had the photograph. I wanted to look at it again, was already halfway to convincing myself it had been a trick of the light. That, and the fact that Mary’s dead face was imprinted strongly in my memory. Her body would be lying in a cold drawer in the morgue by now, but nobody would understand what had happened to her. I thought they should know, and running from Dyersburg still rankled with me. I was thinking that a phone call to the Dyersburg PD might point them in the right direction. They’d ask for my name and details, but I could make something up. I’m good at that kind of thing.

I had got as far as reaching for the phone when Bobby knocked on my door. I let the phone be and hauled myself out of the chair.

‘You okay?’ he said, as he shut the door.

‘Been a weird few days, Bobby.’

I opened up the laptop and placed it in the middle of the table. I motioned him to sit back in the other seat, then slipped the DVD-ROM into the slot and loaded up the bar scene from the video.

Loud music. Chaos. The drunken progress of the man holding the camera. The coughing fit, and then a walk round the corner into the area where people were playing pool. A young couple stood with their backs to the camera, and a big man with a beard and his girlfriend were lining up to take their shot.

The camera staggered closer, and the girl with the long hair glanced up. I hit PAUSE on the player software and froze the video on her face. I hit a couple of keys to save a graphic capture of the screen, then booted up Photoshop. I opened up the capture, and this time zoomed in on the woman’s face. I grabbed some background, and wiped it over the lower portions of her long hair to remove it. I cloned some skin texture and cut in around her cheeks, making them older and wider, and then picked up some hair and changed the style to one more suitable for an old lady in the year 2002. Did a quick selection, dropped in a steel grey, and then finally added noise over the altered part of the image to mask the difference in grain, followed by a Guassian blur to take the sharp edges away. I zoomed back out again until the picture was half its natural size, and the rough editing was less apparent in the quality of the image.

You had to ignore the fact that part of the scene around the face now looked odd, but it wasn’t hard given what had been revealed in the centre. I’d suspected this since Ed’s trailer, but seeing it on-screen still made me feel breathless.

‘Okay,’ Bobby said, very quietly. ‘That’s her again. Along with your parents.’

‘But they only met Mary when they moved to Montana.’

‘And they said something like: “This Mary woman. Complete newcomer in our lives. Certainly never met her before.”’

‘They acted as if they’d only known each other a couple of years.’ My head was spinning. ‘And I remember my mother telling me about how she’d just met Mary when she came round with cookies the day they moved in.’

‘When actually they’d known each other for over thirty years.’ Meanwhile he’d spooled through the clip and frozen the image on the girl sitting cross-legged and weaving on my parents’ living-room floor.

I nodded. The way the light caught her nose and cheekbones, you didn’t even have to do any editing. It was Mary.

‘So what do you think about the Ed guy? Could he be the cameraman?’

‘The only time I saw him and my dad in the same room they behaved like strangers.’ I’d already described this occasion to Bobby on the way out to the bar. ‘But they must have known each other. They all did. For some reason, Mary moves out, possibly not even that long after the time shown in the video. She’d certainly been in Montana a long while before my folks moved out there. In the meantime, my parents and Ed stay here, but not in contact, and the one time I accidentally bring them together, my father lets it happen but neither acknowledges the other.’ I thought back to the occasions when I’d met Mary at my folks’ house, but all that did was confirm my existing impression – which is that if they’d all known each other before Montana, they went to some trouble for it not to appear that way. I was wondering why they’d all bother to hide this fact from me, and then saw this was muddled and egocentric thinking.

My parents went out there on purpose, I realized. ‘They went there because they thought or knew something was going to happen, and that’s why the three of them pretended not to know each other.’

‘You’re stretching just a little bit.’

‘Am I? Maybe Mary wasn’t killed just because she was in the way. Maybe whoever came out to the house had two jobs, and Mary was one of them.’

Bobby considered, nodded. ‘Then, when you turn up back in Hunter’s Rock, Ed runs like a jackrabbit.’

‘We should have stayed out at his trailer.’

He shook his head. ‘He’s not going back there in a hurry. By now he’ll have called the guy at the bar, and found you know where he lives. Plus you’re looking too zonked for any action that might involve chasing people. You left your number. If he goes home, he knows how to get a hold of you. Tomorrow we go back out to the bar and lean on the owner. Find out if the old guy has any known associates or another place he hangs out.’

‘Needle in a haystack, in other words.’

‘The needle’s still there. If it’s been placed at random, it could be the very first thing you find.’

‘Very deep, Bobby. Let me write that down.’

‘Meantime, I’m going on the Web.’ He glanced at the cell phone, which was lying on the table. ‘And if you’re hoping Lazy Ed’s going to call, you might want to turn your phone back on.’

While he ran a phone cable out the back of the laptop to the connector on the desk telephone, I watched the screen of the cell. Sure enough, within a few seconds a message indicator lit up.

‘Got something?’

I dialled the service and listened. The voice recorded was that of a woman. ‘Not him. It’s the girl I talked to at the hospital. She said she’d look up some files, let me know if anything looked useful.’

‘And did it?’

‘She doesn’t say,’ I said, disconnecting. ‘Just for me to give her a call tomorrow.’

‘Ward, look at this. You got an email.’

I looked over his shoulder. There was a short message on the screen:

EARN BIG $$$ GUARANTEED!!!

We are a small company offering an EXPANDING service. Make use of our product to change your world, working with nothing more than your own dedication. The pure shall rejoice in there hearts when he seeth our Web site!

Go back for information that could change all our lives! Start immediately – with a business that’s growing fast. Hundreds are already doing more than they ever thought possible: Why don’t you become one of us?

Don’t delay – this offer ends at midnight.

‘Look up “junk email” in a dictionary,’ I said, ‘and they’ve probably got that printed out in full.’

‘But,’ Bobby said, ‘there’s no order form. The sending address looks fake and it mentions a Web site without giving the URL, and then gives a deadline in three hours’ time. They’re not making it easy for you to get ripped off. Plus look at the two sentences with exclamation marks at the end. The first is odd – some kind of biblical-sounding thing – and the second says “Go back”. Go back where?’

I thought a second. ‘This has come to me as a result of having already visited some site and having my IP address logged.’

‘Sometimes, Ward, it’s almost like you’ve got a fully functioning brain.’ He doubleclicked a desktop bookmark, and the browser loaded up. Within a few seconds we had the page in front of us, with just the two words: WE RISE.

But this time they were underlined, and when Bobby moved the cursor over them, it became a pointing hand.

‘It’s changed into a link,’ he said. He clicked on the words and a small dialogue box popped up asking for a password. ‘Oh, crap.’

‘The Straw Men,’ I suggested.

He typed it in. A white page came up with the words UNAUTHORIZED ENTRY at the top. Bobby swore and clicked the back button.

‘Show me the email again,’ I said. He switched the browser to the background, bringing the email back to the front.

I scanned it quickly. ‘Try there, as it’s spelled in the “rejoice” sentence.’

‘Because?’

‘It’s the only misspelled word in the entire email, and it’s in the sentence referring to the Web site.’

He clicked, typed it in. We got unauthorized again. ‘It’s going to throw us out soon,’ he muttered, retracing his steps once more.

‘Try it spelt correctly.’

He clicked and typed in ‘their’. There was a pause. And then another page came on screen. This was black, with the word WELCOME, in white in the centre.

‘Okay,’ Bobby said, his voice quiet and constricted. He moved the cursor over WELCOME, and it changed to a pointing hand. I crowded in closer, and he clicked on the word.

There was a pause, and then the screen changed to a forest green, filled with white text.

THE HUMAN MANIFESTO

[image: strawlogo.jpg]

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

HERE IS THE TRUTH

Some people do not agree with Evolution as a Theory. This is wrong. We were only told that Evolution was untrue for so long to STOP US from seeing the real Truth. But now we have Seen it, and it cannot be hidden again by Politicians or other LIARS.

You think you know the Truth but you don’t: You only know LIES.

THE HISTORY OF MANKIND.

In olden times we were all apes. Then one day 5 Million years ago a new line split off to make three new types of apes: the gorillas, the chimpanzees and the ‘hominids’ – who became us. Anyone who has seen TV programs on how smart chimpanzees are will not find it hard to believe this is TRUE. 2.5 Million years later the first creatures who were true Humanity came into being. They are sometimes referred to as Habilis, although names during this period are open to controversy: This is a dark period in our Evolution, and the scientists use LONG WORDS when they do not know as much as they want us to THINK they know.

By 1 Million years ago we began to see a type called Erectus, so-called because they stood Upright. It is standing Upright that divides us from the apes, and from all other animals. Some of this type became Neanderthals, who were successful for a long time. Over the next few hundred thousand years this type became better at walking, got better tools, and tamed FIRE. Further Evolution then took place in Africa, finishing in Homo Sapiens. Our brain size became bigger, hence our Intelligence, which is unique. The Homo Sapiens supplanted the Neanderthals.

During all of this time, humankind and those who came before us were HUNTER-GATHERERS. We lived in small groups who tied together through Kinship and Co-operation. We fed ourselves with game that we HUNTED and berries and roots that we GATHERED, and then we moved on.

AS YOU SOW SO SHALL YOU WEEP

About fifteen thousand years ago everything started changing. This may sound a long time ago, but not when you think in terms of Millions of years. What happened is we stopped our natural hunting and gathering. Why?

Some people have put this down to growing population, causing a strain on resources, and less freedom to move. Or changes in the weather because the Ice Age had finished, and various other things. I have read all of the so-called Scientific explanations, and no one knows. There were once millions of bisons roaming the plains of America. They were still able to support themselves. They had to move about to find new food, but that is the Natural Way. Humans, who can stand Upright, are DESIGNED for walking long distances. So why did we suddenly stop moving – when we had spent millions of years Evolving to be another way?

The reason is because WE STARTED FARMING. The result was that people started staying in one place, and began living in larger groups up to hundreds and then thousands of people. And once this had started, it could not be stopped. Farming makes more food, but it is a LESS EFFICIENT method of supporting small numbers of people. It only works with big groups. Farming also caused more people to be born, which meant the groups got even bigger. Once you have a bigger population, you cannot give it up and go back to foraging. You are Trapped.

From these changes came towns and cities, which gave rise to even more population growth. These caused LACK OF EQUALITY, and then LEADERS and RELIGION. It also created MORALITY. If you start living in one place for a long time, then you will be seeing the same people tomorrow as you did yesterday. This means that you have to start behaving towards them in a certain way, or they will KILL you. From this people came to believe that they OUGHT to behave in certain ways – even if you do not know the people involved. And for the first time we saw one of mankind’s not endearing but most real tendencies, something that makes us different to all other natural species: that of ALTERING THE LAND. Up until then we had lived as part of nature: Since we started farming we have been RAPING the earth and changing it to our own ends.

And yet farming people were actually LESS HEALTHY than foragers. Growing food brought SMALLER returns for the same effort. Hunter-gatherers had MORE LEISURE and WORKED LESS than farmers. They had a better balanced diet than farmers, who relied too much upon root or cereal crops. Farmers were more likely to get infections and epidemics – because everyone was living close together. People did not live as long, and got SICK more.

SO WHY DID THIS WAY OF LIFE SWEEP THROUGH THE WORLD, IN A MERE FEW THOUSAND YEARS? Why, across virtually the entire planet, did our whole Species change its way of living after Millions of years – especially when at first they were WORSE OFF?

THE INHUMAN GENOME

Viruses are very small, but when they are in you they take your body over so it behaves in the way that the Disease wants. Many Viruses make you sick, like colds. Some will kill you, like AIDS. But the cleverest Viruses do not make you sick or kill you – because they want you to be their HOME.

20,000 years ago WE WERE INFECTED. Homo Sapiens brought the virus from Africa, which is why all the Neanderthals died out. They were better adapted to cope with conditions, and with an Ice Age – and yet, within just a few thousand years, they died out.

This Virus made us start living in groups and towns precisely because it would be easier for it to SPREAD AMONGST US. We did not do this because it was better for us. We did it because we were trapped. By the time the Virus had taken hold and we had become its home, our nature had changed and we could not go back.

The Virus has become so much a part of us that the Scientific Establishment will never see it, no matter how clever they think they are.

This is why a Homeland is very important to many people, including the JEWS: If we move then the Virus thinks we are returning to our real way of life and causes trouble for us.

This is why we don’t care about people from other countries: They mean nothing to us.

This is why Terrorists and Murderers kill innocent Americans: We mean nothing to them.

This is why our cities are full of Violence: We are forced to live in other people’s filth like rats in boxes, which is anathema to us.

This is why things like the Nazi holocaust and Bosnia and Rwanda take place: Different tribes are our Enemies, and if you push us together we will fight.

This is why our leaders are Liars and Fools. Government means stopping us from having our FREEDOM, for the sake of the so-called rights of people we do not know.

This is why people Murder and Kill: Because the only thing that stops us is Morality, which was invented by the Virus.

They are always trying to make us feel like we’re the same, and say that we all bleed the same colour, but even that is not true: There are different blood types – because of genetics.

Even at this basic level we are incompatible with each other. Even our blood is not the same.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

We must start the action in the cities, amongst the Blacks. We may not like you – because you are not our type, and we are only brought together because of the Disease – but you are Victims too. You have been brought from your proper Home and penned into places where there is no hope for Your Kind. You must be the first to rise up. The world will follow.

We are not supposed to live in huge groups. We are not designed to care about people we don’t know. We are supposed to be free, not penned in cities and lorded over by people who do not care about us but are only in it for the MONEY. The only way to stop this from destroying us is to KILL the carriers. Politicians will not help, because they thrive in this Evil environment. Like the virus, without ‘civilization’ they have no host. It is up to us.

Those who Kill will be Free:

Those who do not Kill are Infected.

Cleanse the planet.

Kill the virus.

Guns will make you strong.

I finished reading it a few seconds before Bobby.

‘Save it to disk,’ I said. ‘That’s not going to be there tomorrow.’

When Bobby had saved the page, I scrolled back to the top and read through it carefully again. It reminded me of a hundred manias, badly photocopied screeds thrust at passers-by on street corners and skimmed on the way home out of sheer boredom; rants half-overheard in the shadows of bars late at night, voices smudged with alcohol and ignorance and anger. But there was something different about it. I sat back in my chair, and worked out what it was.

‘Give him credit,’ Bobby said, when he had finished reading it a second time. ‘He’s been to the library and looked at some books. But it’s basically an insanity thing. Right?’

‘Yes and no,’ I said. ‘Terms like “supplanted” don’t fit. Or “anathema”.’

‘Couple clever words don’t make it a work of genius. They could have been copied straight out of something.’

‘Every single apostrophe is in the right place, Bobby. Plenty of people out there who’d take this as the word of God. Militia guys, for a start. Could even be them behind it.’

He laughed. ‘I doubt that. You know what they’re like. Grey-haired vets and kids who’ve seen so many straight-to-videos about ’Nam they half-believe they were there, too. They build a camp in the woods and polish their hardware and fight over the womenfolk.’

‘Not all of these people are cavemen. Or stupid.’

‘Of course not. But we’re talking guys who devour Soldier of Fortune cover to cover and buy books telling you how to cook napalm and build man-traps in your backyard. People who took a bath over hoarding supplies for the millennium – and were actually disappointed when it all came to nothing and civilization shambled on. They put on fatigues and yack up how the world’s gone to shit and the Jews and the Hispanics are to blame, not to mention Capitol Hill and Saddam Hussein. You’d be better off worrying about the blacks in the inner cities, like the guy says. The homeboys are really pissed, and some of those fly motherfuckers have whacked someone before they’ve been laid.’

‘It’s the same thing. People who’ve never felt part of any community except the one that’s small enough that they know everybody by name.’

‘You’re making me weep, Ward.’

‘Fuck you. You put your trust in a country, love it as much as it tells you to, and then you find out it was just a stroke to keep you quiet and what it really meant was “Anyone can have everything, apart from you guys. When it comes to you, we didn’t mean it.” It’s cultural abuse. How are you going to react to that?’

‘Okay, Ward. There’s genuine sentiment there and the overall IQ probably isn’t much lower than in the House of fucking Representatives, and I’ll admit that some of them have sometimes got a point. What I sure as hell don’t believe is that they coordinate. Most of these outfits have trouble keeping thirty people pointed in the same direction, never mind agreeing aims and objectives with some other group – much less groups – living hundreds or thousands of miles away. Maybe out there in the big bad world. But not here.’

‘Before the Internet,’ I said.

‘There’s stuff there,’ he admitted. ‘Enough manifested psychosis to blow the mind of every therapist in the country. Hate groups, end-of-the-worlders, the illuminati burning effigies of owls in Bohemia Grove – and the face on Mars is a missile base for social control and the nukes are all pointing right at you. But I spend my entire time looking at that shit and trust me – any worldwide movement ain’t run by these guys. These people hate everybody who isn’t them. Put them in a room together and they’d just combust.’

‘You can’t find every file on every server,’ I said. ‘You only see what’s been left to be found. There could be some whole other Web, using the same computers and the same phone lines and hard disks, full of killers and killing and a plan for the future – and unless you knew where to look, you wouldn’t even find the contents page.’ Bobby rolled his eyes, irritating me. ‘Fucking listen to me. That’s what we’re like. Don’t you know that? Academics created the Net in their spare time so they could trade facts and while away tenure in role-playing Star Trek. Next thing you know you can’t log on without people spamming you to death and every shoeshine concession has its own domain. Even before that it’s wall-to-wall pornography and ordinary men and women sitting in darkened rooms writing each other about how they’d like to dress up like Shirley Temple and be whipped until they bleed. That’s what the Net will become – a way of hiding behind anonymity so you can stop pretending you’re Mr and Mrs Good Neighbour and be how you really are: so we can stop pretending we give a shit about some global village when our Christmas-card lists are about the size of a small prehistoric tribe and we feel like cutting half of them.’

‘Nice to see someone so proud of his fellow earthlings. You sound like you’re ready to join the cause.’ He rubbed his face. ‘Ward, this could be just some guy out on his own weird limb.’

‘Bullshit. We got here from a bookmark on the computer of a man who shot a few minutes of video in which he referred to “The Straw Men”. That man and his wife are dead, along with someone they knew a long time ago. A threat sent to the place shown in the video caused a house and a hotel to be bombed less than two hours later. Christ, even the architecture of The Halls fits in. They’re making million-dollar caves for hunter-gatherers.’

‘Okay,’ Bobby said, holding his hands up. ‘I hear what you’re saying. So what now?’

‘We’ve found this. What are we supposed to do next? There are no links, no email address, nothing. What’s the point of this thing, unless it leads somewhere?’

Bobby turned the laptop towards him and pressed a key combination. The screen changed to a view that revealed the page’s naked HTML, the hidden multiplatform Web language used to display the page to whatever kind of operating system tried to access it. He scrolled slowly down through the lines.

Then he stopped. ‘Hang on.’

He toggled the view back to normal again, and flipped down to the very end of the document. ‘Okay,’ he said, nodding his head. ‘It’s not much, but there’s something.’ He pointed at the screen. ‘You see anything there? Below the text?’

‘No. Why?’

‘Because there is something. A few words, but they’ve been set to appear exactly the same colour as the background. You’re only going to know they’re there if you look at the code or print it out.’

‘If this strikes some kind of chord, in other words. So what are the words?’

He flipped to HTML again, and selected a short section right at the bottom. Hidden amongst the gibberish was:

font colour=“#339966”The Upright Man/font

‘The Upright Man,’ I said. ‘Who the hell is that?’