Trellis: Trellis Trilogy (One)
Trellis
Taciturnity
Agent Colin Banks was doing what he did every day, that is, at least for the last three years. He was chasing leads and arresting criminals of the State. The young girl he picked up at the airport he assumed was collateral damage for a money-laundering scheme, he couldn’t have been further from the truth. His years of service and following the law were about to be flayed open like a fish at a Chinese fish market. Everything he thought he knew about the government he worked for was a lie and the trail of deceit stretched further than his military trained mind had been prepared to believe. His young female suspect with her silence would soon make him leave behind his career to save her. Will she be worth saving in the end?
Research Alliance of the Neural Cerebral Hemisphere
The Trellis Island Initiative: Growing humans for political projects and creating human weaponry
for personal and national gain.
Table of Contents
The Chapters of Trellis
Chapter One Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Two Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Three Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Four Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Five Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Six Chapter Twenty
Chapter Seven Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Eight Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Nine Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Ten Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Eleven Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twelve Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Thirteen Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Fourteen Chapter Twenty-Eight
The Trellis Initiative existed under the lie of a research facility. The Trellis location: concealed in the middle of the ocean, miles away from the meddlesome public and extremely difficult for anyone to escape from- ever. By outward appearances, it was an ordinary research company, just not a regulated, civilized research company. D was the ultimate trophy for the program, a successful Frankenstein operation altering her future, the world’s safety, and your privacy. Yes, the privacy in your own mind wasn’t private when D was around. She could read your thoughts, and easily change your perception. While others were in high school, attending parties, and planning college careers, D was untraceable, obscure, and working for the exact people that despised her.
Only Dr. Salvaggi deemed what was acceptable and what was not acceptable on the island, who and what left the compound was in his merciless hands. His surgeries, failures, and successes were legendary- at least with two groups of people: the workers at Trellis and the countries that purchased Trellis’ services. He had been on a mission for decades (to the detriment of many dead human clones, he sickeningly called his children) to create a clone that could read people’s thoughts- a mind reader, the ultimate weapon. Many have died under his knife, many have become zombie-like, but one, one stood out as his greatest accomplishment. The test subject named ‘D’ suddenly sees the Doctor for the monster he is, and now she sees the only home she had ever known as a prison.
Soon, D would be launched in to tightly controlled missions off the island. Off the island, she found a world building fences, strengthening its clutch on its people, and she found herself helping in this effort of control. Of course, politically they had to look civilized; after all, the USA was a civilized society and would pay Trellis any amount of money for this young girl and her mind reading ability.
The population, now policed by the Citizen Control Department or otherwise known as the CCD had their grip tightly on all aspects of the citizen’s daily lives. Most of the CCD made up of special force warriors that were stringent for rules and protocol. The top echelon of the military and the police force had to offer compiled into one group- The CCD.
At least by all outward appearances the USA looked like a leading nation that surrounding regions looked to for direction. What was actually going on behind the scenes painted a shrewd scrupulous picture, one that would never make it to the history books.
The female test subject named D had scrutinized how Dr. Salvaggi had gained the technology he implemented through surgical avenues, and above all, she wondered who was funding Trellis. This information was a closely guarded secret and Dr. Salvaggi would not reveal it willingly, he was prepared to die to protect it or to have D killed to continue his mad reign over his cloned children.
Chapter One~
Feeling the sticky briny humidity fill her lungs couldn’t have come at a crueler time. There in D’s mind, on that sandy beach, holding the only person she ever loved like a grandmother, leaning over her lifeless body, D also died a little. The blood that soaked the dead woman’s clothes now covered D like paint and the gun that did the killing lay nearby. Yanked harshly in to such a vivid memory of her beloved Treeny was unexpected; however, gaping at the black holstered guns on the Citizen Control Agent’s hip, nestled in to his persona like a limb is what pulled her backwards to long ago.
The death of Treeny was a stretch in time on what felt like an eternity, yet D remembered it like it happened yesterday. A memory far behind her and had nothing to do with what was about to hatch open like the stink of a bad egg. What you don’t know can hurt you, at least in this game and what D didn’t know before today, was handcuffs hurt. ‘I’m pretty much screwed,’ floated across her mind.
‘This day was unusual compared to most of the agent’s usual days,’ she thought. The cold sterile environment they were used to interviewing suspects in now deemed appropriate. With months of compiling evidence and chasing down leads glaring them in the face, they hoped the case would break wide open.
Agent Billy Hinkle entered the room and gave Agent Banks a piece of paper. D already knew what it read as she glanced down at the black dried inky substance on her fingertips, that they had no finger print match for her. Agent Hinkle was simple; she could read his every thought. Billy Hinkle was young, new at this job, and quite handsome in his CCD uniform. He was younger than lead agent Colin Banks standing next to him, albeit not by much, a few years perhaps. Newbie Agent Billy Hinkle knew he was inexperienced and didn’t believe he deserved the position he had been given.
She sat there watching Agent Hinkle’s movements with one question, ‘Why can’t I read your partner’s mind’.
They knew nothing about her other than the fake name on her passport, Stella Stevens. Not even what her voice sounded like. To them this strange girl definitely fit the description of an easy suspect that should be willing to talk or make some kind of a deal. She looked more like collateral damage for people the agents thought she was associated with in their surveillance.
Today D donned short messy orange hair, a purple streak through her bangs, black painted lips that remained closed with a small silver ball pinned to her lower lip. Her big oversize sunglasses sat on the cold metal table, and the black and white plaid trench coat she was wearing now lay over the back of her chair. She had no idea where her umbrella had gone, lost to the jumbled mess that happened when agent Banks slapped the handcuffs on her. The handcuffs that bound her wrists rested on her lap and tightened severely. She only shifted her head side to side to move the short purple and orange strands that fell in front of her eyes. She glanced now and then at the opened metal briefcase sitting on the edge of the table the two agents kept referring to in their questioning. A briefcase filled with a fake passport, thousands of dollars, a bankbook to an offshore account, and a pair of cheap lime green flip-flops.
Banks and Hinkle left D in the interrogation area walking to the attached room to quietly watch her actions behind the two-way mirror. To their surprise, there were many agents crammed in the small room watching this young suspect give agents Colin Banks and Billy
Hinkle the silent treatment.
Banks eyes narrowed to slits, annoyed, he snapped at them, “Don’t you agents have real work to be doing?”
One older agent snarked, “Yes, but we like to see beloved pet agents get owned by a teenage punk.”
“We aren’t owned,” the young agent Hinkle responded, then leaned in and asked his partner, “She in’t owning us, right?”
Banks clinched his fists tightly trying to ignore them, and focused on his suspect’s behavior through the mirror.
No need to be a mind reader here, it was obvious who the leader of this CCD duo was. The two agents interviewing her were visibly different.
There was a reason Banks was the lead agent, Hinkle was no doubt a rookie.
She glanced at the enormous two-way mirror and immediately agent Hinkle’s thoughts flashed across her mind like a billboard sign.
‘Surely, the suspect has no idea of all of us watching her? Absurd, there is no way she can read our minds, although, she certainly looks like she is reading us,’ he thought.
D smiled at agent Hinkle through the mirror and winked, of course, she couldn’t see him physically, but his thoughts drew attention to him as loud as a train. This bizarre action of hers completely catches Hinkle off guard and he choked trying to hide his shock.
Reviewing the room they had her in, D was impressed with the CCD’s operation. To her it was getting interesting, although she never intended for it to get this far. Even though she worked for the government, she was a covert weapon few people knew existed. Her usual routine had not worked with agent Banks this morning and still having a trump card to throw down; she contemplated on how to accomplish this strategy. The longer she sat there the more detailed the questions were getting, not that it mattered, D wasn’t about to talk but she still didn’t like it. Why couldn’t she read agent Banks? This wasn’t the first time this has happened but it was the first time since she was on Trellis, which seemed like forever ago.
Remembering back to earlier in the day and how D wound up in the room with the agents baffled her. It was supposed to be an easy flight out of Washington but then- the wind gushed by, the glass doors of the airport terminal opened, the security dog got out of a guards grasp, and she found herself pinned against the cab door. All of this happened at the same time Agent Banks was headed in the airport on completely unrelated business. D dropped the briefcase and money spilled out on the sidewalk and that was the end of her quick trip. She couldn’t get out of Agent Banks’ detention. She knew the money looked suspicious, she wasn’t dumb, she was just a bit sloppy this time. All she needed was an opportunity to get away from him. That opportunity never came and now she was being questioned on a money-laundering scheme. Sure, she did know a little about it and she wanted to help, but not this way. She wanted to help on her terms, not the arrogant agent’s terms in front of her.
They watched the suspect as she glanced around the small room she was being held in and to their surprise, an unauthorized agent entered the room with a soda and candy bar placing it in front of her. She nodded in appreciation at the agent and he smiled back.
Banks and Hinkle watched with their mouths gapped opened in stunned silence.
“What… in… the… world…” Agent Banks uttered slowly.
D tore the wrapping off the top of the candy bar and popped the top on the soda, then she lifted her hands up with the big clunky handcuffs and motioned towards the mirror for the men to come back in the room. This was the most interaction she had initiated with either of them. Both men looked incensed at one another because of their young suspect’s boldness. The other agents in the small room erupted in cackled laughter. This young peculiar girl made Banks and Hinkle look like clowns. Not the type of clowns that were fun and jovial but the clowns that were beaten down by life with dry riverbed makeup packed on their angry faces.
Banks and Hinkle headed back to make their suspect talk and ran in to the agent that just gave their suspect candy and soda.
“Agent Ramirez, what would possess you to give our suspect,” Banks paused looking for the right words.
Agent Hinkle completed his thoughts, “Treats? Why would you give her a treat?”
Agent Ramirez looked at them both in a daze, and spoke confused, “Treats? I am picking up reports from the Chief. The only,” he paused before he used the odd word, “The only treats I have are on my desk.”
Banks squinted his eyes at the agent studying his face, and asked, “A soda and a candy bar by any chance?”
Agent Ramirez looked confusingly at Agent Banks and answered, “Yes. A candy bar and a soda.”
“Why would you share them with my suspect?”
Then Ramirez grabbed his large belly and shook it, “Do I look like I share treats?”
Banks sighed and then replied, “Just go. I don’t have time for your games. But this incident of interfering with my suspect will be in my report.”
“I DIDN”T GIVE ANYONE ANYTHING!” Ramirez shouted stepping closer to Banks until they were toe to toe.
Banks however was not intimidated and moved so close to Ramirez till the tips of their noses were close to touching, he spoke in a low even tone, “I will have some nice poster size pictures of the incident plastered in your office before the end of the day.”
Ramirez’s shoulders slumped downwards shaking his head as he turned away from Banks he muttered some profanity pleading his innocence as he slunk back to his office. When Ramirez returns to his office though, he will find his afternoon treats- gone. His soda and candy bar nowhere to be found in the small room. Scratching his head, sitting back in his chair he muttered, “This day has gone south. Where in the world did my snacks go?” Truly, he had no idea.
When the men came in the room D had taken one bite of the candy bar. Banks swiftly removed the candy bar and soda from her hands tossing them in the trash with a loud thump.
She continued to chew the chocolate and Carmel swallowing it and wishing she had the soda back. Her dark eyes stared back at Agent Colin Banks from behind the brightly colored bangs. Her teeth clenched so tightly together it was hurting her jaw.
Once the men were seated in front of her, she pointed to the small notepad in the younger agent’s pocket. D yet to speak made Banks’ muscles blaze. He was sure the young suspect could see the redness flush his face and he knew he had to keep his cool with the inquisitive crowd watching from behind the mirror.
“Agent Banks, should I give this to her?” Hinkle asked, lifting up the notepad out of his shirt pocket.
Since D was somewhat amused at how the agents were handling her, she wasn’t exactly eager to let this end but she couldn’t let it go on much longer. Agent Banks perplexed her.
Of course, D said nothing staring at Agent Banks green eyes, letting silence densely pack the void between them. Banks did not want to break the stare-down D had created but he wanted answers, looking away he grabbed the notepad from Hinkle. Agent Banks ripped out a sheet of paper sliding the paper in front of her with a pen.
With clinched teeth, Banks mustered all the civility the situation demanded and directed, “Miss, why don’t you write down your real name, who you work for, and the reason you were found at the airport with this briefcase. Also, why you have shown up in our surveillance the last few weeks?”
D lifted her hands up and the heavy handcuffs clinked against the metal table, with her left hand she picked up the pen.
“Are you really left handed?” Agent Banks mused, watching her every move.
She let out a small barely noticeable grin, ‘He’s good,’ she thought.
D carefully marked down something that would undeniably intrigue them; Agent Banks had left her no choice. She slid the paper back to him slowly across the cold table. He quickly picked it up reading what this strange detainee had written, the name Peter Coughlin, a phone number, and with small spread-wings carefully drawn under it. If Agent Banks was a product of Trellis, D should be able to read his facial expression when he viewed
the feathered wings she sketched.
“Is this a phone number? Coughlin? The Secretary of Defense? You are telling me you work for the Secretary of Defense? On the other hand, are you hoping to buy more time? What do these wings mean? You are not in art class.” Agent Colin Banks was enraged, D was sure of his anger and she didn’t need to read his mind to know that, the tight muscle that feathered across his clinched jaw line screamed his emotions.
Undoubtedly, she was wrong, there was no way from what D could tell, did Agent Banks know anything about Trellis, or perhaps he just didn’t remember. If he was a product of Trellis and didn’t remember then she wanted to know how he got off that torturous island and away from that surgical Frankenstein Doctor.
Banks handed the paper to Hinkle and directed him to go call the number the young female suspect gave them.
As D pulled Peter Coughlin in on this failure of hers, she knew without a doubt would make that obese man irate, especially this close to the Fort Knox project she was scheduled to help with next week. Frustrating Peter Coughlin was like a bonus for D, in fact if this was a video game, D was sure she’d be given extra points for irritating that man to the level she did, it had become entertainment for her.
“You know Miss— I am growing weary of this game you are playing!” He slammed his hands down on the desk in front of her.
‘Overly-dramatic,’ She thought trying to hold her poker face without rolling her eyes.
“Look, Miss, either you are really smart or really stupid, and I am betting on the latter one? Do you know this isn’t Spies and Disguises 101 you are playing? You look like you are fourteen; do you know how dangerous this is and what charges you are facing here?” He stalked towards her then leaned his backside against the table shifting his weight until he loomed over her. She knew immediately that he was trying with his large presence to intimidate her in to cooperation.