Susan Grays (book 1)/ The tale of trust

Chapter 19: The man behind all

Thursday, 6 A.M, GSS temporary base, Olderdale, Norway

Susan went inside of the temporary base and immediately welcomed by one of her men. "Ma'am, you should come. we found something." he said. Susan ran to where Bishop, Zaytsev, and her captains had stood, watching big monitors. 

"What did you found?" she asked. 

Bishop turned to her. "Professor Edmond Clark." said Bishop. "He is the one behind all of this." He said and an image zoomed on the screen. 

The video cam was showing a big office. A big window had covered one of the walls which had a view of the lake. In front of it, a desk had been put with so many papers and one PC on it. Behind the desk, an old man had sat. His receding hair was white which had been combed back neatly and had a few lines of gray. He had worn a gray turtleneck thermal sweater on his slim body. His oblong grim face with his high cheekbones had given him a determined and strict impression. His long fingers were dancing on the keyboard skillfully. A whiteboard with chemistry and mathematical formulas and another desk with so many papers and tools were other furniture of the room. 

"Edmond Clark was a high-level chemistry professor at the Harvard University," said Harris whose face could be seen in a corner of the screen. " He was one of the best chemists in the world. But Suddenly, ten years ago, he took early retirement and no one saw him after. He had melted away."

"Edmond Clark." whispered Susan and frowned. "I have heard his name."

"Well, it's not odd." said Harris. "Clark was very famous. His name can be seen in many inventions. He had won a Nobel prize for a drug he had developed for a rare disease. He had also appeared in so many science TV programs. He had also secretly helped the government in so many experiments." 

Susan took off her mobile and called someone. "Now I remembered. Mycroft once was talking about him."

"Hello, Susan." Susan heard Mycroft's voice from the other side of the phone and felt a warm feeling in her heart. "Good morning, Mr. Holmes." she said. "I need your help."

"Well, that was obvious. I would be shocked if it had another reason." Scuffed Mycroft.

Susan smiled. "Ok, I'm putting my phone on speaker so everyone here can hear you." she said and put the phone on speaker. 

"Everyone? Where are you?" asked Mycroft. He was becoming worried slowly. Obviously, Susan had put herself in another problem. 

"Norway. Don't ask why. It has a long story and I'm in a hurry." said Susan seriously. "Do you remember Edmond Clark?"

Everyone gathered around Susan. "Edmond Clark? Clark ..." whispered Mycroft. "Oh that mad scientist. Why do you ask about him?" He asked Suspicious.

"Because right now he had sat in his office in a fortress inside of a mountain, working on human experiments. Don't you think it's a bit odd?" said Susan.

Mycroft didn't speak for a few seconds. Susan could imagine him sitting on his armchair and massaging his forehead. Finally, he began to speak. "I'm sure you already know about Clark's life by reading his profile so there is no need to tell you what a great chemist he is," said Mycroft. "He had cooperated in some of the top-secret projects as well. Ten years ago, he came to us with a project plan, 'The mind builder'."

"Mind builder?" asked Harris surprised. 

"He believed that he could create a serum which could open the mind of a man so you can program it, build it." explained Mycroft. "He believed that he could rewrite someone's mind by using changes in chemical reactions that happen in mind to turn that one to another person. He said he can awaken some talents and abilities in person that can be hidden for the rest of their life. In his plan, he suggested creating super soldiers, a very cliche subject, but something that still can tickle the mind of powers of the world. I'm sure at first, this plan of creating super soldiers was not Clark's intention, but he had found it the only way to gain finance and support for his project and of course, he got it." 

"What happened then?" asked Bishop. 

"He started his plan despite all of the efforts I and a few others made to stop him. But he failed himself. His plans didn't work and after the death of all of his samples that were five men and women who had become volunteer, his superiors stopped him for he had made no improvements and the project had cost too much for them and we had increased our pressure to stop that madness."

"What happened for Clark?" asked Susan. 

"I was there, the day they told him that he must stop his experiment," answered Mycroft. "He didn't say much and his face and emotions were unreadable for he was an expert to hide them. He just thanked for all of their help and apologized for his failure and then left. As his project needed great finance and personnel and we knew he didn't have both requirements we left him to go where ever he wanted, but I still put watch for him. But he acted completely normal. He retired himself and bought a house in a village and lived there for two years without doing anything unusual or meeting anyone unusual and so I left him to be." 

"It seems he has finally found enough power and finance to start again." said Zaytsev .

"And even worse, he had succeeded." said Susan.

"succeeded?" asked Mycroft shocked. 

"Maybe not fully," said Bishop. "but we met one of his 'samples', as you said, and Susan killed it."

"Oh my dear Lord." muttered Mycroft. 

Susan turned off the speaker and put the phone on her ear. "Thank you, Mycroft. You helped us a lot." she said and walked a bit away. 

"Susan, whatever it costs you must stop him." said Mycroft firmly. "If he sells his projects to bad men only god knows what the hell can happen. I would have sent you help, but we don't know who can be his supporter. He can become informed of your presence and things become harder. A fortress in the mountain you said?"

"Yes, but don't be worry, I will take care of it." said Susan. "Just try to find if you can find anyone at power who supports him." 

"I will," said Mycroft. "Be careful, Susan." He said with concern. 

Susan smiled. "I will. bye, Mycroft. I will tell Harris to put you in details." she said and then terminated the call. 

"Do you have a plan?" asked Bishop when Susan turned to them again. Susan nodded. "Yes," she said and walked to Bishop and glanced at her captains. "Prepare your men. We will attack at midnight." she said and then walked away. She wanted to take a shower. She needed a little more time to sort a few things in her mind. She had a plan, but with high risk and so many dangers.