The Curious Case of the Two Dirk Gentlys

55: The End Part 1: Beyond the Veil

Ken had walked through the sterilized  corridors of Wilson's base so many times that they were just as familiar as the main facility. Yet the sight of them made him sick as he headed to his meeting. He was alone now, there was no-one left to support him. He didn't even have Priest anymore. Turned out the government had no particular desire to spend time and money covering up another bout of reckless driving.

He gently pushed the door open trying to make a little noise as possible. Odds were he was about to piss Wilson off to a dangerous level, he may as push her wrath back as far as possible. There she sat at the end of the jet black table. From there it felt like she was miles away. The other chairs were still completely empty. When Priest first told him about the lack of staff Ken hadn't believed him, when he saw it himself he thought it was strange, now that everyone was missing for the third time it made him extremely uncomfortable.

"No committee?" He asked.

"I fired the committee. They bored me." She replied disinterestedly.

"Right. I get it, I get it." He nodded.

"I know you do, Adams. You didn't come here to make small talk did you?" Wilson scowled.

"No, no, of course not." Ken laughed nervously.

"Then what do you want? I already extended your jurisdiction and gave you that stupid convoy and I'm yet to see any solid results. Do you want more funding? More men? What?" She interrogated.

"I want to shut Blackwing down." He said firmly. Silence fell over the room. The air turned to ice as the pair stared at each other in anticipation of a response. Ken could almost see the gears click and grind behind her eyes. It was clear that her mind was burning. Yet openly she tried not to show it, not one bit.

"You want to do what?" She growled.

"I want to shut Blackwing down." He repeated slowly and calmly.

"And what makes you think you have the right?" She asked.

"I don't. Not even a little bit. I just hope you'll trust me."

"If you don't want to run the project anymore I'm perfectly willing to accept your resignation. You're replaceable." She informed him.

"And who would take my position? Priest?"

"Oh goodness no." Wilson grimaced in disgust.

"Then who? Would you bring Riggens back? If you accept this hypothetical resignation can you even guarantee you could find a replacement?" He questioned.

"I'm sure we'd figure something out. Blackwing can't be dissolved." She scowled.

"Then..." His mind whirled as he tried to think of a compromise. There was no way he could leave the building with Blackwing still as it was. "Perhaps we should move our focus away from the failed project based system."

"And change our goal to what exactly?"

"Supernatural and unexplained events. Now that our jurisdiction is increased the scope is wide. Did you know there in unregulated time travel going on in England? We should probably look into that." Ken explained.

"The government wants us to study the holistics."

"The government wants us to study exploitable supernatural occurrences I assure you I can deliver."

The room went quiet once again. It wasn't cold anymore. It was soft and considerable as Wilson mulled over Ken's words. Ken stood as straight as a soilder, hoping beyond hope that so many tiny pieces would fall into place. He hoped that Wilson would be reasonable, he hoped that his point of view had been well justified, and he hoped that after all the mistakes he had made the universe would accept his best efforts.

"Okay." Wilson finally responded. "It's done. I'll make a few phone calls; I'll get you new resources, new men, and get Project Veil up and running as soon as possible."

"Project Veil?" Asked Ken.

"I never really liked the name Blackwing. It always felt cursed to me." She told him.

"All right then." Ken smiled warmly. "Project Veil it is."